The A320 Family’s Remarkable Journey in 2023
The A320 Family has plenty to celebrate in 2023. By the end of November 2023, Airbus’ highly successful A320 Family had already logged 1,395 orders, including the single largest order for 500 aircraft, from Indian airline Indigo. This year is following a trend; in 2022, the A320 Family logged 857 orders.
The Resilient Market for Single-Aisle Aircraft
The market for single-aisle aircraft has bounced back strongly from the dark days of the COVID pandemic. Airlines worldwide particularly appreciate the modern, efficient, and versatile A320 Family. In recent years, the Family’s largest model, the A321neo, has been successful both in terms of volumes and speed of sales. This variant accounts for around two-thirds of the 6,739 A320 Family aircraft in Airbus’ current order book.
Expanding Airbus’ Global Footprint
To keep up with such strong demand, Airbus is growing its global industrial footprint with the goal of bringing A320 Family production up to 75 aircraft per month in 2026. At the same time, the company’s single-aisle final assembly lines (FALs) are evolving to produce a mix of aircraft models with new cabin and comfort standards.
Airbus is doubling the number of FALs capable of producing the A321neo, compared to 2019. By 2026, ten A320 Family FALs around the world will be capable of producing the A321neo.
Airbus’ Commitment to Innovation and Growth
In 2023, Airbus began construction of a second FAL in Mobile (USA) and in Tianjin (China). Toulouse (France) celebrated the inauguration of a FAL dedicated to the A321neo, with a second to follow. In Hamburg (Germany), where four FALs produce all members of the A320 Family, Airbus inaugurated a dedicated hangar to equip the A321 eXtra Long Range (XLR). With all locations now capable of assembling the A321neo, Airbus’ global single-aisle footprint is truly more flexible, resilient, and closer to its customers.
Empowering #TeamAirbus and Advancing Towards Low-Carbon Aviation
This incredible ramp-up expands Airbus’ industrial footprint and is made possible by the thousands of people working at production sites around the world. The company is proud of this growing, multi-cultural family that makes up #TeamAirbus and the positive local impact its presence makes. The ambitious plan for 2023 is to recruit circa 13,000 employees globally, and it is progressing well, confirming Airbus’ attractivity. In addition to traditional industrial skills, Airbus also attracts employees to critical jobs such as quality, logistic and supply chain specialists, customer line managers, or digital manufacturing and cybersecurity specialists.
The A320 Family contributes to making further progress towards low-carbon aviation, offering a 20% fuel burn reduction compared to previous-generation aircraft.
