An A380 aircraft is seen through a window with an Airbus logo during the EADS / Airbus 'New Year Press Conference' in Hamburg
An A380 aircraft is seen through a window with an Airbus logo during the EADS / Airbus 'New Year Press Conference' in Hamburg January 17, 2012. REUTERS

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is welcoming Airbus S.A.S. to the port city of Mobile Monday to formally announce the opening of the European aircraft manufacturer's first assembly plant in the U.S.

The plant, which will be located at the Brookley Aeroplex, will cost $600 million and employ 1,000 people, according to officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The plant will produce four single-aisle aircraft a month by 2017.

Mobile was explored last year by EADS NV (EAD.PA), the parent company of Airbus, for U.S. Air Force refueling tankers, but the Dutch company lost the bid to Chicago-based Boeing Company (NYSE:BA).

The Port of Mobile is one of the 10 largest ports in the U.S. by tonnage and has spent about $500 million since 2000 on capital improvements, including a new steel terminal to service ThyssenKrupp AG's (FRA:TKA) U.S. steel operations in its $4.6 billion facility in nearby Calvert, Ala..

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