Airbus to open factory on rival Boeing's U.S. turf

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - European planemaker Airbus confirmed plans on Monday to build its first assembly plant in the United States, marking an aggressive foray into the world's busiest aviation market and the home turf of rival Boeing Co .

The world's largest commercial jetmaker, an EADS unit, said the Mobile, Alabama, plant would build up to 50 A320-family jets annually within two years of its 2016 opening and provide 1,000 jobs. It will be the second Airbus plant outside Europe that manufactures its most popular jet, after China.

Analysts said the move, leaked last week, could reshape the U.S. aerospace industry and boost manufacturing on the Gulf Coast. But Boeing said the move should not distract attention from controversial European subsidies received by Airbus.

The rivals are involved in the largest-ever dispute at the World Trade Organization, accusing each other of billions of dollars in illegal aircraft subsidies.

A crowd of about 1,000 industry executives and local officials crammed into the Mobile Convention Center to hear the announcement, arriving to the strains of the Steve Miller Band's 1977 hit "Jet Airliner" and Tom Petty's song "Learning to Fly."

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris and Jed Horowitz in New York, Writing by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)