Airbus delivered its first airliner assembled in the USA on April 25, 2016, handing an A321 built at its plant in Mobile, Alabama, to JetBlue Airways.
The delivery
The jet, named BluesMobile and registered N965JT, is a 190-seat A321. It was JetBlue’s 29th A321, FlightGlobal reported. The handover came three years after Airbus started building the Mobile plant and seven months after the plant opened in September 2015. The aircraft made its first flight in March 2016.
“Going from breaking ground on this facility three years ago to handing over the first Alabama-produced A321 today is an amazing accomplishment,” said John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer for customers.
Plans for the plant
Nine more A320 family aircraft were being built at the plant at the time. Airbus aimed to deliver four aircraft a month from Mobile by the end of 2017, and to switch the line to the A320neo family in late 2017. The company expected the plant to employ 1,000 workers in final assembly.
Mobile is Airbus’ fourth final assembly line for the A320 family, after Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; and Tianjin, China. AFP reported that building in the USA was meant to help Airbus compete with Boeing in its home market and reduce the company’s exposure to swings between the dollar and the euro.
Source & credit
Source: AFP-Relaxnews via iAfrica.com: “Airbus delivers first made-in-USA aircraft”, April 26, 2016.
Also: FlightGlobal: “Airbus delivers first US-assembled A321”, April 25, 2016.