French Prime Minister inaugurates A350 XWB Assembly Line

French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer, Fabrice Brégier officially inaugurated the 74,000 square-metre A350 XWB Final Assembly Line (FAL), in Toulouse, France. At full production, the FAL will employ some 1,500 people who will build up to ten aircraft a month as from 2018.

The ceremony, held inside the FAL, was attended by French political representatives, regional officials representatives from other Airbus home governments, as well as Airbus customers, suppliers, top executives and over 1,000 employees.

Guests at the ceremony were able to see the A350 XWB coming to life, with the first two aircraft (the static aircraft and the first flyable aircraft, MSN1) at different stages of final assembly.

The static aircraft, which will be used solely for ground tests, has nearly completed assembly, with a full fuselage, two wings and the vertical tail plane joined. The aircraft will be transferred to the static test hangar at the Toulouse Jean-Luc Lagardère site to be prepared for static tests to start in spring 2013. The first flyable A350 XWB (MSN1) is also progressing well, with the fuselage already joined. The wing, vertical and horizontal tail plane for MSN1 are inside the FAL and will be joined to the fuselage in early November.

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