We Went To France To See How Airbus Builds Passenger Jets Faster Than Anyone Else

This week, Airbus published its latest 20-year outlook report, predicting the world will need 29,000 new commercial planes by 2032.

Single-aisle planes - like the Airbus A320, Boeing 737, and newcomer Bombardier CSeries - will account for 71% of those deliveries.

This year alone, airlines have ordered 382 A320 family jets.

Part of the challenge, then, is building the planes as quickly as possible to meet demand.

In that arena, Airbus has pulled ahead. It cranks out 42 A320s per month (that includes A318, A319, and A320, and A321 planes) - which it says is the highest commercial aircraft monthly production rate ever.

This summer, we visited Toulouse, the French city where Airbus is headquartered and assembles many of its planes, to take a first-hand look at how it achieves that rate.