After airlines, it is now the aeronautics industry’s turn to be impacted, and especially Airbus’ Chinese facility in Tianjin.
While the number of airlines modifying their flight plans keeps increasing, the whole aeronautics industry appears to be affected by the spread of the coronavirus. For instance, Airbus China staff is now working from home “observing Chinese Government requirements” in an attempt to curb the speed of spread of the virus. Hence, the Tianjin Final Assembly Line (FAL) facility is currently closed. The Chinese facility shall participate in the production ramp-up of the A320neo family aircraft while Airbus’ Completion and Delivery Centre (C&DC) shall be able to accommodate A350 aircraft from the second half of 2020. Airbus specifies it “is constantly evaluating the situation and monitoring any potential knock on effects to production and deliveries and will try to mitigate via alternative plans where necessary”.