Zero to 500 in nine years Mobiles Airbus plant hits milestone [Video]

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Political and business leaders gathered Thursday at the sprawling Airbus facility at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley and marveled how fast the plant went from an idea to one of the city’s biggest employers.

The occasion was a celebration of the 500th commercial airplane assembled in Mobile since the facility opened in 2015. An expansion that is well under way underscored how that milestone is just a starting point.

“We’re here to celebrate 500 airplanes, and I can’t believe how quickly that has happened,” Airbus North America Chairman and CEO Robin Hayes said during the ceremony.

Not bad for a city that never had built airplanes and that Boeing executives and Washington State politicians had ridiculed.

Hayes note that the company started with about 350 employees in Mobile. Since then, the workforce has grown to about 2,000 plus another 400 at other locations in the city. Daryl Taylor, the …