Airbus officially opened its third Final Assembly Line in Mobile on Monday, cementing the Alabama city’s status as the world’s fourth largest aircraft manufacturing hub behind Seattle, Toulouse, and Hamburg.

The new facility will produce A320-series aircraft, a single-aisle jetliner that earlier this month surpassed the Boeing 737 as the best-selling commercial airplane in history. The expansion doubles Mobile’s potential A320 output to 16 planes per month and brings total production capacity at the campus to about 20 aircraft per month, including four A220-series jets.

“The growth to this final assembly line has been made in record time,” said Robin Hayes, chairman and CEO of Airbus in North America. “That is incredible.”

The project was supported by more than $51 million in state and

See Full Page