MOBILE, Alabama -- We can go way, way back if you like. Say, the early 18th century. Airbus -- both the company and the concept -- would not be invented or even dreamed of for some time. But the roots of France's claim on the economic fortunes of Mobile can be traced that far. It was here in 1710 that the local regent of Louis XIV ruled the Louisiana Territory, a responsibility that eventually passed to a more suitable town located at the mouth of the Mississippi River called New Orleans. The legacy of France's early rule over Mobile lives on in the names of the streets -- Dauphin and Royal, for example -- and in the local drawl (it's "mo-BEEL", not "MO-bil").
Three centuries later, Mobile's Brookley Aeroplex will become the home of Airbus manufacturing on US soil, and perhaps the beginning of a more dramatic strategic shift for the Franco-German airframer. (Read our
full analysis here.)
To conserve space, we'll fast forward our timeline to the very beginning of this century, with the first contact between Airbus and Mobile officials.
2002 - As Airbus opens an engineering
centre in Wichita, North American chairman Allan McArtor discusses opening a
Mobile site with then-US Representative Sonny Callahan, an Alabama Repbulican.
7 April 2004 - Airbus announces new
facility to support US Coast Guard training centre in Mobile.
5 May 2005 - In bid for USAF tanker
contract, Mobile named among four finalist sites for A330-based tanker
modifications
22 June 2005 -- EADS selects Mobile as A330
tanker modification centre
2007 - Airbus opens an engineering centre
in Mobile.
14 January 2008 - Airbus commits to
establish an A330 Freighter aircraft final assembly line in Mobile, conditioned
on if the Northrop Grumman/EADS North America KC-30 bid wins the USAF tanker
contest.
29 February 2008 - Northrop/EADS team wins
USAF tanker contract, prepares to open A330F final assembly line in Mobile.
19 June 2008 - Government Accountability
Office finds errors in bidding process, urges USAF to overturn contract and
start a new competition.
1 October 2009 - Airbus establishes MRO
center at Mobile regional airport to support US military C-212 and CN-235s,
plus US Coast Guard HC-144s.
24 February 2010 - USAF releases new
request for proposals for KC-X tanker contract.
24 February 2011 -- EADS loses second tanker
competition to Boeing, but notes "this is one business opportunity among many
for EADS in the United States".
2 July 2012 - Airbus commits to build $600
million final assembly centre for A320s in Mobile.
Early 2013 - Airbus plans ground-breaking ceremony
for A320 final assembly complex
2015 - First A320 to be inducted into
final assembly centre
2016 - First delivery of an A320
scheduled to a US customer
2017 - Mobile FAL expected to reach peak rate of between 40 and 50 A320s
per year
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