Airbus is a European manufacturer headquartered in the Netherlands, but with its main manufacturing location in Toulouse, France. Final assembly takes place in Toulouse for all widebodies. Narrowbody final assembly also takes place in Germany, China, Canada, and the US. This is very different from Boeing, which assembles all aircraft in the US. Looking at component construction, though, there are many more locations in a truly global supply chain.
Distributed manufacturing for aircraft components
Final assembly and production of the finished aircraft is only the last step in the manufacturing process. Before that, parts are manufactured in many locations and brought together. Like all manufacturers, Airbus has complex supply chains for each aircraft.
The majority of this takes place in Europe, but there are major components manufactured further afield as well. The wings for all aircraft apart from the A220 (and the Chinese-built A320s) are manufactured at Airbus’ Broughton facilities in Wales in the UK.
Each aircraft has its own specific supply china. For the A320, for example, the center fuselage is made in Hamburg, Germany, and the horizontal stabilizer is from Getafe, Spain. The rudder is made in Harbin, China. Components in China are also supplied by Chinese manufacturers.
The A321XLR is entirely constructed in Europe, with the forward fuselage and center wing box in France, central and rear fuselage sections, and vertical tail place, in Germany. Getafe in Spain handles the tail cone and horizontal tailplane, and the wings remain produced in the UK.
Read more: Where Does Airbus Build Its Commercial Jets?