Focus on: how an aircraft is built, Airbus

International collaboration for global jetliners

From design through production and onward to final tests and certifications, each Airbus jetliner is the result of wide-ranging expertise, complex logistics, and multinational cooperation across thousands of employees, suppliers and partners.

Design offices and engineering centres

Airbus’ principle of global cooperation is built upon a global network of regional design and engineering centres that contribute to the company’s full line-up of modern aircraft. The main design office at Airbus’ headquarters in Toulouse, France is joined by five additional design offices and engineering centres in Spain, the United Kingdom, Russia, and two sites in Germany.

Looking beyond Europe, Airbus opened its first North American design and engineering facility in 2002 in the heartland of the United States at Wichita, Kansas. This location was expanded in 2010 with a second engineering centre additionally housing a team of in-service repair engineers offering critical support for worldwide customers. Along the U.S. Gulf Coast is the Airbus Americas Engineering facility in Mobile, Alabama, where employees are responsible for various interior elements of Airbus’ widebody A330, A350 XWB and A380 jetliners. 

• Learn more about design and engineering at Airbus.

A Realistic Human Ergonomic Analysis development tool – which allows an operator to interact with an immersive full-scale 3D digital model – was used in the design of the A350 XWB.

Airbus opened its first North American design and engineering facility in 2002.

Production

To manage the steep and steady ramp-up of industrial activities and meet continued strong demand for its aircraft, Airbus co-locates key contributing functions such as engineering and procurement with its primary production facilities in Germany, France, the UK and Spain.

In Germany, the city of Hamburg focuses on structural assembly and outfitting of fuselage sections, final assembly of A320 Family aircraft, A380 major component assembly, as well as manufacturing and equipping the rear fuselage sections for the A330 and A350 XWB programmes. Employees in Bremen are responsible for the design and manufacture of high-lift systems for the wings on all Airbus aircraft. Vertical tails are produced at Stade, as are other carbon fibre-reinforced plastic components such as flaps for single-aisle A320 Family aircraft, and spoilers for the A330. All the electronic communications and cabin management systems needed by both crew and passengers are designed and produced at the Buxtehude site.

Employees in Toulouse, France – the headquarters of Airbus – are responsible for engineering, structure testing, flight tests, and more. The area around Toulouse-Blagnac Airport is home to a delivery centre for completed aircraft as well as final assembly lines for the A320, A330, A350 XWB and A380 jetliners. Toulouse Saint-Eloi is responsible for delivering equipped and tested pylons to the final assembly lines. The plant at Saint-Nazaire specialises in structural assembly, equipping and testing of front and central fuselage sections for the entire Airbus family. Nantes specialises in the manufacture and assembly of the centre wing boxes for all Airbus aircraft, and is a leader in creating carbon fibre-reinforced plastic structural parts.

The elements of an A330neo widebody jetliner start coming together at the final assembly line, or FAL, adjacent to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in southwestern France. The A330 Family integrates the latest developments from the A350 XWB and A380 aircraft families to maintain its position as the best in its class.

Located in North Wales, UK, Airbus’ Broughton site assembles wings for the company’s entire family of commercial aircraft – more than 1,000 per year. The city of Filton focuses on engineering and research & technology groups for wing design, landing gear and fuel systems design and testing, and the manufacturing of various components.

The Airbus Getafe, Spain location specialises in aeronautical component engineering, design, production and assembly, utilising both metallics and advanced composite materials to manufacture airframe components for all Airbus aircraft. The Illescas site is a leader in manufacturing composite aeronautical components, mainly large-scale or complex shaped parts as the A350 XWB’s wing lower cover. Puerto Real, in the south of Spain, specialises in the automated assembly of movable surfaces (rudders and spars) for all Airbus jetliners and produces the horizontal tail boxes of the A350 XWB.

• See additional details on Airbus commercial aircraft production.

Airbus’ primary production facilities for commercial aircraft are in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Transport of major aircraft sections

A customised, in-house transportation system was developed by Airbus to solve the need to move large, pre-assembled sections of jetliners from their production locations to the final assembly lines. A fleet of five A300-600ST Super Transporters fly completed fuselage sections and wings between cities.

Based on the Airbus A300-600 aircraft, the A300-600STs were modified with a bulbous main-deck cargo cabin, earning them the nickname “Beluga,” after the arctic white whale with a similarly prominent forehead. The Super Transporter is able to carry a 47 metric tonne (103,616 lb) payload over a range of 1,667 km (900 nautical miles).

To meet its growing transport needs in support of the company’s production network, Airbus is introducing a new-generation airlifter, the BelugaXL, which is based on the A330-200, and is similarly modified with a bulging upper forward fuselage for an enlarged cargo area.

When Airbus began production of its double-deck A380, the superjumbo airliner’s size required its fuselage and wing sections to be shipped via a surface transportation network with specially-commissioned roll-on/roll-off ships to the Toulouse final assembly line. Most A380 sections are transported to Toulouse by sea, river and road, while smaller components – such as the vertical fin produced in Stade or the nose section produced in Méaulte, France – are carried in Airbus’ Beluga fleet.

• Find out how Airbus utilises various transport solutions in support of its production network.

Final assembly

Expanding on its original final assembly lines, or FALs, in Toulouse and Hamburg, Airbus opened two additional FALs to better meet market demand: in Tianjin, China in 2008 – the first such facility for Airbus to be located outside of Europe; and in the United States at Mobile, Alabama, in 2015. Both Tianjin and Mobile perform final assembly of A320 Family aircraft – the most successful and versatile jetliner family ever.

Covering the product line of commercial aircraft, the full complement of Airbus jetliners is built in Toulouse: the A320 Family, A330 Family, A350 XWB, and A380. Hamburg has responsibility for the A318, A319, A320 and A321. Tianjin assembles A319s and A320s, while the newest FAL in Mobile, Alabama produces A319, A320 and A321 jetliners.

• Read about Airbus’ worldwide final assembly lines in more depth.

With its major structural components assembled, an Airbus A330neo begins to take shape at the final assembly line in France. In addition to housing a delivery centre for completed aircraft, the Toulouse-Blagnac site is also home to final assembly lines for the A320, A350 XWB and A380 jetliners.

Test programme and certification

To illustrate just one Airbus aircraft product line, testing and certification of A320neo jetliners involved six versions, three variants with two different engine options each: CFM International’s LEAP-1A and the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1100G-JM. The campaigns also confirmed these aircraft met the company’s performance targets in terms of fuel consumption and range.

The “Type Certificate” – issued to signify the airworthiness of an aircraft manufacturing design – is followed by the “Airworthiness Certificate,” which authorises aircraft operations in a certain countries or regions. Once approved and certified, the aircraft is cleared for service and full-scale production begins.

• Airbus’ test and certification programmes are discussed in more detail.

An A321neo passes through a purposely-inundated runway as part of a testing programme that includes the aircraft’s ability to safely handle a rejected take-off, and its performance in both hot-and-high and extreme cold conditions.

Airbus opens its second logistics platform - Airlog II

- A platform  with  a  surface  area  of  36,000  m2  dedicated  to  cabin  activities 

- Transportation  savings  for goods  estimated  to  be  500,000  km  per year

- Equivalent  to  carbon  footprint  
savings of  nearly  1,000  tonnes  of  CO²  each  year

Toulouse,  4th  May  2018–  Airbus  has  opened  Airlog  II,  its  new  logistics  platform  covering  a surface  area  of  36,000 m2,  equivalent  to five  rugby  pitches,  and  is  located  in  the  Barquil  zone north  of  Airbus’  HQ  in  Toulouse.  On  the  same  site  as Airlog  I,  its  first  platform. 

This  latest  generation  platform  is  sized  to  absorb  all  the  logistics  activities  for  cabin components  for  A350  XWB,  A330,  and  A320  Family  aircraft,  for  which  cabin  furnishing  is performed  in  Toulouse.  This  new  logistics  platform  represents  an  investment  for  Airbus  of more  than  30  million  euros. 

"This  new  hub  is  designed  to  accelerate  the  input  and  output  flows,  thereby  allowing  us greater  efficiency  in  meeting  assembly  line  requirements.  The  existing  storage  depots,  which up  until  now  were  spread  across  several  sites  in  the  Occitanie  region,  will  now  be  grouped into  a  single  site.  This  proximity  will  allow  us  to  save  a  half  million  kilometres  in  the transportation  of  goods  each  year.  This  means  1,000  tonnes  of  CO²  saved,  which  represents the  consumption  of  500  cars  over  a  year,"  explains  Emmanuel  de  la  Sayette,  Airlog  II  Project Leader  for  Airbus.   

The  building  has  been  designed  with  ecology  at  the  forefront.  The  construction  materials  and methods  used  to  build  the  entire  platform  are  environmentally  friendly  and  comply  with environmental  standards.  Airbus  wants  to  install  solar  panel  structures  in  the  car  park  with the  aim  of  producing  1.1  MWh/year,  equivalent  to  the  annual  consumption  of  1,232 inhabitants.  The  new  platform's  power  consumption  is  56%  less  than  that  of  the  buildings currently  in use.   

A  heating  system  on  the  roof  of  the  new  building  filters  air  and  eliminates  dust.  Skylights have also been  added  to  provide  a natural  light  source. Particular  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  environment:  the  forest  and  wetlands  around  the new  building  have  been  preserved  and  268  new  trees  planted.  Either  these  should  be  bullet points  or  a  single paragraph. 

Airlog  II  is  part  of  the  Airbus  logistics  strategy  introduced  in  2012,  which  led  to  the  opening  of Airlog  I  in  2014  (36,000  m²)  and  to  its  extension  in  2017  (an  additional  12,000  m²).   Airlog  I  is  dedicated  to  logistics  activities  for  structural  and  equipment  items  for  all  the  aircraft programmes.  With  Airlog  II,  the  new  hub  for  cabin  components,  located  in  the  Barquil  zone, as  close  as  possible  to  the  assembly  lines,  Airbus  is  ensuring  that  logistics  development  is secure  for  the  long-term.   

These  two  huge  platforms  provide  a  total  storage  area  of  84,000  m²,  and  provide employment  to  more  than 200 people on  the  new  site. 

Airlog  II’s  logistics  operations  are  carried  out  by  Daher  Group. 

SAS signs firm order for 35 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft

Repeat order for the most fuel-efficient aircraft

SAS Group, has signed a firm order for 35 A320neo aircraft. SAS will also lease 15 additional A320neos from leasing companies. This important new strategic commitment will result in SAS becoming an all Airbus operator with the fuel-efficient A320 family for its mainline European operations, as well as for its extensive domestic services in Scandinavia.

These new A320neos will join the airline’s existing Airbus fleet of 56 aircraft (eight A340s, eight A330s and 40 A320 Family aircraft). The engine selection will be announced by the airline at a later date.  SAS has been an Airbus customer since 1980.

“Just over one year ago, we started to phase into service brand new Airbus A320neos, and since then we have received a very positive response from our customers. I’m therefore delighted that, through this order, we can continue improving and investing in our customer offering, and thereby SAS’s future. We are also creating a single-type and more efficient fleet for the first time. Ordering 50 Airbus A320neos gives us access to the market’s most efficient aircraft thereby enabling us to further improve our operational efficiency and to continue to reduce our climate-impacting emissions,” says Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS.

“We are proud with this repeat commitment by SAS. The A320neo will complement SAS’s existing Airbus fleet, with unbeatable fuel efficiency, the lowest operating costs and environmental footprint. It is the perfect choice for SAS, for replacing its older generation aircraft. This means more of SAS’s passengers will keep enjoying the best comfort in the skies,” said Eric Schulz, Chief Commercial Officer, Airbus Commercial Aircraft.

The A320neo Family incorporates the very latest technologies including new generation engines and Sharklets, which together deliver at least 15 percent fuel savings at delivery and 20 percent by 2020. With more than 6,000 orders received from 99 customers, the A320neo Family has captured nearly 60 percent share of the market.