China’s Juneyao Air has received the first A321neo aircraft produced at Airbus’ Final Assembly Line Asia (FAL Tianjin) in Tianjin, China. The aircraft has 207 luxurious seats, 8 in Business class and 199 in Economy class, and is powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. Its delivery flight will use a 10% blend of Sustainable Aviation Fuel to support China’s green aviation strategy.
Since Airbus announced the activation of the first A321 aircraft at FAL Tianjin in November, relevant final assembly activities and tests have progressed without incident. This highlights FAL Tianjin’s ability to quickly adapt to new products, said George Xu, Executive Vice President of Airbus and CEO of Airbus China.
Airbus has four final assembly sites for the A320 Family, located in Hamburg in Germany, Toulouse in France, Tianjin in China and Mobile in the United States. As a result of the conversion of the Tianjin facility in 2022 and the imminent completion of the transformation of the newest facility in Toulouse, the entire international industrial system will be fully A321-capable, creating the flexibility and agility required to meet Airbus’ ramp-up objectives and the growing market success of the A321 model.
The Tianjin FAL, inaugurated in 2008, was the first Airbus commercial aeroplane assembly line outside Europe. The first aircraft pieces arrived on site in the same year. Since 2009, when it delivered its first A320, Airbus’ Tianjin FAL has delivered over 600 aircraft in its 14 years of operation. The A321neo is the longest fuselage member of Airbus’ best-selling single-aisle A320 Family, with a maximum passenger capacity of 244 and a range of 4,700nm/8 km. The A320neo Family, which features the widest single-aisle cabin in the sky, offers at least a 20 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions as well as a 50 per cent reduction in noise compared to aircraft of the previous generation, thanks to the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies such as new generation engines and Sharklets. The A320neo series had received over 8,600 firm orders from over 130 clients across the globe as of the end of January 2023.
