EADS to Build U.S. Assembly Line for Airbus A320

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

Source: New York Times

MOBILE, Ala. — Airbus, the European airplane maker, announced Monday that it would invest $600 million over the next five years to build an assembly line here for its popular A320 single-aisle jet — its first factory in the United States.

The move into the heart of Boeing’s home market is part of a long-term strategy by Airbus aimed at doubling its share of the world’s largest market for 150-seat airplanes, which includes Boeing’s top-selling 737.

“This is the right move at the right time and in the right place for Airbus,” said Fabrice Brégier, the new chief executive of Airbus. “With this step, we will be the only genuine global player in the aerospace industry.”

The move follows about nine months of intense discussions within Airbus and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense & Space, said several Airbus executives with knowledge of the project. The aerospace group is betting that U.S. airlines, many of which have large fleets of aging aircraft, will be enticed to consider an A320 that was made in America over the Boeing 737.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/business/global/eads-to-build-airbus-assembly-line-in-mobile-ala.html

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Even with three factories in Toulouse, Hamburg and Tianjin the A320 neo is more or less sold out till the end of the decade.

[DFW]

1. Alabama's cops will jump for joy

Hundreds of new European managers they can arrest for being foreign.

Earlier this year, they arrested a visiting German manager from the big Mercedes plant in Alabama for not having enough ID on him to placate the cops that had detained him (took him right to jail, too).

Now they can detain some French guys, as well as some Britons and (oh, happy day) Spaniards (all Spanish-speaking people are fair game, right?). For Alabama cops, this will be open season on foreigners. I'll bet the cops in Arizona will be SO jealous....

[Rod Mollise]

7. Before you start criticizing the the Republicans for being braindead yahoos...

Maybe you had better take a good, long look in the mirror.

[DFW]

16. And just who are you to know that every cop in Alabama is a Republican?

Are you the Alabama Chief of State Police, and do you vet every cop as being a Republican before handing him his badge?

And if you are NOT a high up in Alabama Law Enforcement, then please explain to me where in my post did I criticize Republicans for being brain-dead yahoos?

My post that you replied to said no such thing, so you'll have to excuse me if I inquire about brain-dead yahoos showing up in your mirror? Mine is free of them.

[Teamster Jeff]

2. Success!!

We can now compete with China in cheap labor.

[Rod Mollise]

12. OK...

How much will the workers in Mobile, Alabama make as compared to workers at similar jobs in China? What's the prevailing wage in Mobile? What's the tax situation? Property values? Don't know, huh?

[Surya Gayatri]

3. Good move by Airbus...they make beautiful, classy aircraft

and will now be more competitive.
This is one European collaboration that has really worked.

[Blue_Tires]

4. AB is hedging its bets against any future Euro instability...

And the airline execs will give less than a shit about a French airframe made in Mobile...They will go with whichever aircraft makes the best financial sense for their airline...

I guess I'm ultimately happy for the jobs, but there is a sense of irony with the Mississippi-South Carolina corridor becoming the Indonesia/Malaysia/Vietnam of European industry....

[Populist_Prole]

5. "Mississippi-South Carolina corridor becoming the Indonesia/Malaysia/Vietnam of European industry"

And US industry. It'll put downward pressure on wages of what once was a well paying business, and one the US did well.

I know Boeing says they aren't building the SC plant to replace the one(s) in Washington, but come on! I can just hear it: Soon they'll be complaining about "overcapacity" of production; the need to slim down. Lessee....hmmmm....are we going to close the older unionized one in Washington, or the brand new non-union one in SC?

Well, we'll see. It sure would be ironic if Airbus ends up having more domestic production in the US than Boeing.

[may3rd]

6. it's a right to work state also

but
with time,
you never know what union ideas may take hold along the crimson tide

[ensemble]

10. FWIW...

there is already a union shop in the Brookley aeroplex, where this facility will be located.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. They have to build them somewhere

The Airbus plant in Hamburg has major NIMBY problems, the plant in Toulouse is all-in with the widebody programs and the A320 and exporting from Tianjin isn't practical.

Ironically, if Washington hadn't taken such a negative view of a proposed partnership between Airbus and McDonnell Douglas... A320's and probably A330's would still be being built in Long Beach today and McDonnell Douglas would either be an independent company or part of EADS.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1988/1988%20-%201040.html

[Blue_Tires]

14. Still a tragedy about Douglas

Such a storied American company deserved better leadership (and a better ending)

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. My mother was a technical writer there in the "Good old Days"

From 1948 to 1957 and again from 1961 to 1966. She was pretty choked up by the merger (the first one, and second one.)

[davidpdx]

13. Very true about the currency hedging

and the cost. I'm sure the labor cost will be much lower than the French get paid.

[DFW]

17. It's a fair bet this was planned when the euro was much stronger against the dollar

These days, with the euro at $1.26 instead of $1.45, their investment looks more marginal.

[permatex]

8. This is good, right?

More jobs and maybe more union jobs.

[Rod Mollise]

11. Sure it is good...

Except for people who think ALL the people of Mobile or Alabama or ALL the cops of Mobile or Alabama are like extras from _Smokey and the Bandit_. LOL. Of course those people have never been here, know nothing of the city, the state, or the rest of the south. They, in their ignorance, just think we ALL need to be PUNISHED, and that the people where they come from (wherever the hell that is) are much BETTER and DIFFERENT. LOL.