Airbus is currently in the process of inaugurating a second Airbus A320-family final assembly line (FAL) in Tianjin, China, just days after adding a new line in Mobile, Alabama. This lifts the Airbus A320neo family's output to 75 jets per month by the time 2027 comes around. These back-to-back final assembly line openings are carefully choreographed in order to navigate tensions between the United States and China.
Airbus has to balance its reliance on US-based suppliers and a customer base that increasingly tilts towards China. The company is also in the process of negotiating what could be a 500-jet order with the Asian superpower. China is Airbus' largest individual market, with more than 2,200 aircraft in service in the country and a broad industrial footprint there. This includes