Substantial Airbus Marignane Site Expansion Underway

As Airbus Helicopters’ orders continue to rise, significant redevelopment work is underway at the airframer’s Rotors and Transmissions Centre of Excellence in Marignane, France. A €230 million (about $270 million) investment will see around 60% of the existing site substantially altered by 2028, allowing Airbus to expand and optimize its elementary parts production.

The first stone has already been laid for a new 31,000-sq-m (333,681-sq-ft) building at the heart of the complex, set to be the site’s biggest. This will supersede many older buildings approaching obsolescence, some up to 70 years old. Head of new projects Jean-Louis Gaud explained that the new factory aims to “reshape, and transform completely, the activity of elementary parts machining” through increased automation, digitization, and production optimization.

The Rotors and Transmissions Centre of Excellence currently produces around 350 of the “most critical parts” internally, representing around a third of Airbus helicopter gearboxes, and complementing some 20,000 elements created elsewhere. Upcoming enhancements seek to streamline output while cutting lead times by 50%.  

Current production will continue in parallel as the new building is fully commissioned, expected to take between two and three years. This, suggested Gaud, offers a “big advantage” with an opportunity to install new machining and processes, integrating all steps onto a single production line. Airbus is also looking to raise its “first time right rate” from 60% to 80%, something Gaud believes is “comparable to the best practices we have benchmarked for that type of complexity.”

In parallel, a decade-long program to “deeply transform” around 60% of the wider site will be completed by 2032. “We are looking to export some activities close by and create some satellites,” explained Pascal Kuhn, Marignane site director at Airbus Helicopters.

These off-site activities include the enlargement of logistical assets, alongside facilities for training and maintenance. He added that the 80 hectares of brownfield land adjacent to the airport, accessible via a perimeter road, “may be a possibility of common extension.”

The Marignane facility is currently the largest private employer in the south of France and the third biggest industrial site in the country, following Airbus Toulouse and a tire manufacturer. It is home to more than 9,000 permanent employees and around 4,000 subcontractors. To help support the future workforce, an upcoming Airbus Helicopter Academy will welcome its first students at the end of 2028, working with suppliers and helping train engineers.

Airbus Helicopters’ performance in 2025 was marked by an order intake increase close to 20% in units, with 536 net orders logged. Last year, Airbus delivered 392 helicopters, up from 361 in 2024. Acknowledging that the business segment is undergoing a “very interesting period of growth,” Kuhn added that “military business is booming…and also one reason why we have to transform the site” to bolster future capacity.