The new US$600 million facility, which employs around 260 directly-hired employees in production roles, joins the company’s existing global production network, including sites in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany and Tianjin, China.

“With the addition of our US facility to our production network in Europe and Asia, we have strategically expanded our worldwide industrial base,” commented Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Brégier.

The facility is an important step forward to strengthen the company’s position in the global markets, and enables them to be close to US customers and key supplier partners, he continued. The expanded industrial capacity would also give them more flexibility to increase production across the company to meet global demand, which will create growth opportunities worldwide and throughout the supply chain.

“I can speak for all Airbus employees here in Mobile when I say that we are so proud to be a part of this global Airbus team,” said Ryane Dedeaux, an employee at the new facility. All are excited and cannot wait to get to work, he added.

The first US-made Airbus commercial aircraft, an A321, is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of next year. By 2018, at full production, the facility will produce between 40 and 50 A320 Family aircraft per year, while sustaining the equivalent of some 3,700 full-time jobs in the region with an estimated annual contribution of US$400 million to the state’s output. The company forecasts a demand of some 4,700 single-aisle aircraft in North America alone over the next 20 years.