Airbus Sees Multiple Stations As Key To Keeping A350 Production Moving

DUBAI—Airbus has pivoted to moving uncompleted A350s off the production line to finish cabin installation at numerous separate “station 20s” in order to continue ramping up final assembly of its most important widebody.

“We are popping out the unfinished airplanes, parking them and finishing them there,” Airbus Commercial CEO Christian Scherer tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow. “We used to try and finish them off on the line.”

With the move to producing 12 per month targeted for 2028—A350 deliveries have averaged four per month this year—there is pressure to speed up the process. At the same time, many heads of versions for new airline customers with varying complex installation requirements are flowing through the factory. Supplier delays are also making the task more difficult.

“There is so much work that goes into these cabins that if we tried to do it in the final assembly line it would clog the system completely,” Scherer says.

Airbus is still struggling with shortfalls in the supply chain. The seat situation has improved slightly, partly because Airbus has not been able to boost output as quickly as planned with Spirit AeroSystems production constraints continuing. The situation with lavatories, another bottleneck, had improved, but are now “degrading again,” Scherer adds.

On the narrowbody side, Airbus has been able to reduce the number of “gliders” (completed aircraft waiting for engines) from around 60 to around 30 by the end of the third quarter. Yet the engine situation on the narrowbody side remains tight. “CFM and Pratt don’t want to be in a position where they trip Airbus,” Scherer says. “They did in a way because they gave us the engines very late. We are still receiving the last engines for this year, which is way too late.”

The company is still debating for next year where engine manufacturers send scarce engines—to the final assembly line or to airline customers that have aircraft on the ground. “Technically, we have all the kit we need for this,” Scherer says. “For next year we are still battling. [Engine manufacturers] are in the not-very-enviable position to have to decide whether to send an engine to an airline that has a plane on the ground or to [Airbus],” he adds.

“We of course say that if you don’t send it to the OEM, it is the same number of seats that don’t fly except if you prevent us from delivering or getting paid you are impacting the whole industrial supply chain,” Scherer said.

Engine supply for the widebodies is much better, although it is “right on the rugged edge.” Overall, Scherer said that “Rolls is really doing well industrially.”