Governor Kay Ivey joined Airbus officials, Mobile leaders and\neducation professionals at a community event Monday afternoon to celebrate the\naerospace company\u2019s new growth plans at its Alabama manufacturing facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbus\u2019 latest expansion project calls for the addition of a\nthird final assembly line, or FAL, at its Mobile factory to support increased\nproduction of its A320 Family of single-aisle passenger aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During Monday\u2019s event at Bishop State Community College,\nAirbus outlined plans to add 1,000 new jobs over the next several years to its\nworkforce at the Mobile manufacturing facility, which today totals around\n1,200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see Airbus continue to grow its only U.S.\nairliner manufacturing operation with another expansion in Mobile,\u201d said\nGovernor Ivey. \u201cThis growth is made possible by the company\u2019s skilled workforce\nin Alabama and our commitment to developing a pipeline of future aerospace\nworkers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, Airbus announced plans to ramp up global\nproduction of A320 Family jets, including the addition of the new 350,000\nsquare-foot FAL in Mobile. Details about the new jobs at the Alabama facility\nwere not released at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that Mobile will lead our unprecedented global\nproduction rate increase in coming years is a tribute to the world-class labor\nforce in Alabama,\u201d said C. Jeffrey Knittel, chairman and CEO of Airbus\nAmericas. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of our Mobile employees for proving through years of\nhard work what Alabama is capable of, and I\u2019m also immensely grateful to state\nleadership for making Alabama such a great place to invest and do business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To facilitate Airbus\u2019 hiring plans, Alabama workforce\ndevelopment and education organizations are collaborating on new recruitment\nand training initiatives to build out the jobs pipeline, said Ed Castile,\ndirector of AIDT and deputy secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAirbus has been an extraordinary partner as we work\ntogether daily to help change people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Castile. \u201cAirbus provides\nincredible career opportunities, and we have the awesome opportunity to help\nthem find their team and assist with training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castile said AIDT plans to expand its Aviation Training\nCenter at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, a 36,500-square-foot facility that\nopened in 2014 specifically to help Airbus get production up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AIDT is also expanding apprenticeship programs and\nsupporting Airbus training initiatives at Flight Works Alabama, including\nFlightPath9, We Build It Better and aviation dual enrollment at area schools,\nhe added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flight Works Alabama is an aerospace education center\nlocated near the Airbus facility that aims to inspire future aviation workers\nacross the Mobile region. The 15,000-square-foot facility, which features more\nthan 40 high-tech exhibits, opened in August 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flight Works also directs the FlightPath9 program that\ntargets high school seniors in the Mobile community with a desire to work in\naerospace. We Build It Better is an innovative learning program that provides\nclassroom kits and interactive techniques designed to help instructors expand\nstudents\u2019 creative capacity and encourage discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe see Airbus as the \u2018tip of the spear\u2019 with its Alabama\nlocation and its continued growth as a powerful catalyst for an expansion of\nthe aerospace industry in our state,\u201d said Castile. \u201cThis Airbus expansion\nsimply highlights that Alabama is open for business and a great place to work\nand raise a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbus produced the first Alabama-built A320 aircraft in\n2015, and it launched production of the A220 single-aisle passenger jet in\nMobile during 2019, with a new assembly line specifically for the A220 opening\nthe next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airbus has invested over $1 billion in its Alabama\nmanufacturing facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of\nCommerce, said the state\u2019s aerospace\/aviation industry is primed for growth.\nDuring 2021, companies within the sector announced new investments totaling\n$220 million in projects expected to create 667 jobs, Commerce data indicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAerospace industry growth continues to be a high-value\nopportunity for Alabama, not only in terms of capital investment but also in\njob creation,\u201d said Secretary Canfield. \u201cThere are a lot of exciting things\ngoing on in aerospace and aviation in the state, and we\u2019re seeing that today\nwith the expansion at Airbus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mobile officials praised Airbus for its commitment to growth\nat the Brookley manufacturing site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMobile is quickly becoming a global epicenter for the\naerospace industry, and the addition of a third final assembly line in Mobile\nis a testament to our area\u2019s workforce,\u201d said David Rodgers, vice president of\neconomic development at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Governor Kay Ivey joined Airbus officials, Mobile leaders and education professionals at a community event Monday afternoon to celebrate the aerospace company\u2019s new growth plans at its Alabama manufacturing facility. Airbus\u2019 latest expansion project calls for the addition of a third final assembly line, or FAL, at its Mobile factory to support increased production of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Airbus-Announcement.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22053,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22051\/revisions\/22053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}