Airbus Delivers First Aircraft from Second Assembly Line in Tianjin

Airbus has handed over the first A320neo assembled at its second final assembly line in Tianjin to China Eastern Airlines, marking the transition of its expanded Chinese manufacturing hub into regular operational deliveries. The completion comes roughly three years after bilateral agreements authorized the expansion. With two of its ten global narrowbody assembly lines now located in Tianjin, Airbus expects China to account for roughly 20 percent of its single-aisle assembly capacity, providing critical support toward its target of delivering 75 A320-family jets per month by 2027.

Bringing Tianjin's second final assembly line into the active delivery phase operationalizes Airbus's dual-line system in China at a time when the manufacturer faces heavy delivery backlogs. Sustaining production expansion in Tianjin is central to reaching the global target of 75 A320-family jets monthly by 2027. It also highlights how deeply the European aerospace giant is anchoring its industrial footprint in China's manufacturing ecosystem to mitigate persistent worldwide supply chain friction.

Airbus has officially delivered the first aircraft assembled at its second final assembly line in Tianjin, completing the handover of an A320neo jet to China Eastern Airlines, according to reports from Xinhua and Jiemian News. The handover marks the commercial commissioning of the facility, which took roughly three years to complete following the signing of expansion agreements witnessed by Chinese and French officials in April 2023. The newly active line expands Airbus's worldwide narrowbody manufacturing network to ten final assembly lines: four in Hamburg, Germany; two in Toulouse, France; two in Mobile, Alabama; and two in Tianjin. Airbus opened its first Tianjin assembly line in 2008 and has since assembled and delivered more than 800 A320-family passenger jets from the Chinese port city. With both assembly lines active, China is slated to provide around 20 percent of total global assembly capacity for the A320 family, according to statements previously made by Airbus China management. Company executives reiterated at the delivery ceremony that Airbus's target of lifting global A320-family output to 75 aircraft per month by 2027 remains unchanged. If reached, that pace would represent the highest production cadence in commercial aviation history. However, accelerating assembly requires overcoming persistent aerospace supply chain bottlenecks. Marc Poesselman, Airbus global senior vice president and head of China operations, told Jiemian News that coordinating concurrent production increases across every supplier remains the most complex operational challenge. He noted that the original supply chain was configured for lower volumes and that Airbus is conducting monthly reviews to help suppliers keep pace with its production plans. Local Chinese manufacturing plays a pivotal role in this expansion. Units of Aviation Industry Corporation of China—including Harbin Aircraft Industry Group, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group, and Shenyang Aircraft Corporation—produce components for Airbus aircraft. Tianjin alone hosts a cluster of more than 100 aviation manufacturing suppliers. The production push comes against the backdrop of an immense delivery backlog. By the end of August 2026, cumulative orders for the A320 family stood at 20,418 aircraft, with 12,841 delivered and 7,577 orders awaiting fulfillment. Over 70 percent of that backlog consists of the larger A321neo model.