By David Shepardson and Tim Hepher
WASHINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) -Airbus is set to inaugurate a second U.S. assembly line on Oct 13, followed by expansion of a similar facility in China several days later, in back-to-back ceremonies designed to avoid falling foul of a tricky trade climate, industry sources said.
The planemaker has also been negotiating to sell up to 500 planes to China, a goal first reported by Reuters in April, but is likely to secure only part of the planned order immediately to coincide with the factory expansion, the sources added.
Airbus declined comment on production or pending orders.
The world’s largest planemaker is increasing capacity as it seeks a sharp increase in production of its top-selling A320neo family to 75 jets a month in 2027. Plans include doubling capacity at Mobile, Alabama, and Tianjin, China.
Since the overseas plans were announced in 2022 and 2023, Washington and Beijing have plunged into a months-long trade war, leaving Airbus and some other European companies anxious to avoid offending either trade power.
“There is a lot of sensitivity over how this is perceived,” one of the sources said.
Alabama’s Dept of Commerce said last month that the new Mobile line would open in October, 10 years after Airbus opened its first U.S. plant, pledging to make it more competitive than France and Germany.
Until now, Airbus has said the second Chinese line would open at the end of the year, with deliveries starting in 2026. The ceremony will instead come in the week following the Mobile inauguration, highlighting efforts to achieve a balanced approach towards the two largest jet markets, the sources said.
Bloomberg reported in August Chinese airlines had started dividing up a 500-plane Airbus order, while Boeing waits for a similar order from China coinciding with trade talks.
As part of the global aerospace jigsaw, Airbus is also courting India, where its board is visiting this week.
India has called for an assembly line to match huge orders for Airbus jets from Indian airlines, matching the planemaker’s commercial factory investment in its strategic and economic rival China. Airbus has so far been unwilling to contemplate this because of stretched global supply chains.
It is focusing instead on military transporter assembly and said on Wednesday it would also locate a planned helicopter plant in Vemagal, Karnataka, jointly with Tata Advanced Systems.
An Airbus spokesperson confirmed the board visit and said it reflected India’s importance as a market and operations hub.
(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher. Editing by Jane Merriman)
