Airbus A350 output target of 12 monthly by 2028 faces Kinston bottleneck

September 7, 2026 at 05:00 AM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Airbus has reaffirmed its goal of producing 12 A350 aircraft per month by 2028, but new delivery delays have exposed a critical bottleneck at its Kinston, North Carolina composite facility. The company delivered 26 A350s in the first half of 2026, averaging fewer than five per month, while the Kinston plant struggles to supply fuselage panels and wing spars on schedule.

Key Facts

Airbus delivered 26 A350s in the first half of 2026, averaging fewer than five per month.
Airbus took over the Kinston, North Carolina facility from Spirit AeroSystems in December 2025.
The Kinston site employs about 1,000 people and covers 500,000 square feet (46,451 square meters).
In May 2026, Airbus informed some customers of further A350 delivery delays later in the decade, citing difficulties securing critical fuselage components from Kinston.

Kinston Bottleneck

The most immediate concern centers on Airbus Aerosystems Kinston, the North Carolina facility Airbus took over from Spirit AeroSystems in December 2025. The 500,000-square-foot (46,451 square meters) site now employs about 1,000 people and serves as a Center of Excellence for advanced composite manufacturing. Its work includes A350 fuselage panels and wing spar structures, which are shipped onward for integration into aircraft in France. A shortage or interruption at this point can leave other production stages waiting for parts, even if Airbus has sufficient capacity elsewhere.

Production Ramp Challenge

Airbus is attempting to almost double A350 output from current levels while demand remains strong. The company delivered 26 A350s in the first half of 2026, averaging fewer than five per month, although monthly deliveries do not necessarily reflect factory production rates. Airbus nevertheless says it remains committed to reaching 12 per month in 2028. The question is no longer whether demand exists, but whether Airbus can resolve enough industrial bottlenecks quickly enough to make that production rate sustainable.

Customer Notifications

In May 2026, Airbus informed some customers of further delivery delays later in the decade, attributing the problems primarily to difficulties securing critical fuselage components from Kinston. The facility's output has to arrive in the correct condition and sequence before an A350 can progress through final assembly. That creates a particularly difficult problem during a production ramp because increasing final assembly rates does not help if upstream structures cannot be delivered at the required cadence.