500th US-Produced Airbus Handed off to Delta Air Lines

Airbus handed over a brand-new A321neo to Delta Air Lines, passing a pretty big milestone for their stateside manufacturing.

The occasion was celebrated with a modest handover ceremony and photo opportunity, shared by the company's social media...but not a big enough occasion to make it on Airbus Corporate's newswire. Internal company intrigue aside (kidding), the 500th A321neo was born in the USA. That's a funny milestone to have for the quintessentially European airliner brand, who set up the line in Mobile, Alabama in 2015. Back then, the line only employed a few hundred people, a far cry from the 2,000+ that work there today. Mobile has produced more than 130 Delta airliners since its first A320 rolled off the line in 2016, making pretty good time against Airbus operations abroad.

Along similar lines, Airbus Tianjin celebrated its own 500th Chinese-made aircraft in 2020, having rolled its first off the line 11 years beforehand. While Tianjin's pace may beat Airbus by just a little bit, the Mobile line runs 2 lines, assembling the A319, A320, and A321 to the tune of about 60 aircraft per year. Airbus is hard at work ramping up a third line there to focus on their single-aisle A220 family, expecting to produce anywhere from 40 to 50 aircraft a year.

Mobile city mayor Sandy Stimpson said the whole arc of Airbus' history is amazing to see in such a short time. “Ten years ago, we had never even built an airplane in Mobile. Today, we’ll be delivering the 500th airplane out of this facility. And that is amazing.”