Airbus has opened an A320 family production line in its Hamburg facility located in Germany in a bid to increase aircraft production.

The fourth of its kind, the new production line will leverage digital technologies and flexible industrial setup to boost the single-aisle development programme of the company to 60 aircraft per month by the middle of next year.

Airbus Commercial Aircraft president Guillaume Faury said: “The inauguration of our latest, most modern A320 production line opens a new chapter in efficient, digital aircraft manufacturing.

“With these new technologies, we are building our aircraft more efficiently, a key enabler for higher production rates.”

The new line comprises two seven-axis robots to enable automated fuselage drilling.

They are capable of drilling nearly 80% of holes on the upper side of the sections with better accuracies to enhance the ergonomic working environment.

“With these new technologies, we are building our aircraft more efficiently, a key enabler for higher production rates.”

The line also exhibits a new layout with mobile tooling platforms that automatically navigate with laser trackers.

Following the principle of Design Thinking, these new technologies and processes were deployed after consulting employees to optimise material provisioning at the workstations.

A majority of these technologies are expected to be transferred to other Airbus production lines soon.

With more than 14,000 units ordered, Airbus has delivered over 8,100 A320ceo and A320neo family aircraft to date.

These aircraft are manufactured at the company’s facilities in Europe, China, and the US.

Besides the new production line, Airbus opened a larger and modernised Hamburg A320 Family delivery centre with more customer areas to ensure smooth deliveries of the aircraft to the clients.