To the casual observer, it looked like just another chunk of concrete apron on Airbus’s sprawling production complex at Blagnac Airport outside Toulouse. Nestled between giant hangars and the Airbus outdoor museum with its graffiti-covered airplanes, Airbus is spending approximately $184 million to build the production line for its new A350XWB airliner. The new facility is expected to be fully operational during the third quarter of 2010.
The construction of this new addition to the Airbus empire is well under way, and back in January at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new 795,000-sq-ft A350 plant, Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Brégier, told reporters that the company was already “ramping up to the assembly of the first aircraft.” The project involves significant investment in the building itself, as well as in the tooling and development of the aircraft’s components.
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