TOULOUSE, France - Europe's Airbus inaugurated a new assembly line for its A321neo passenger jet in Toulouse, southwestern France, on Monday, granting a new lease of life to the deserted hangar where the defunct A380 superjumbo was once built as it basks in record demand for smaller medium-haul jets.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire toured the partially automated line inside the Jean-Luc Lagardere plant, which Airbus says will re-create 700 jobs by 2026, or about half the full-time total when the world's largest jetliner was built there.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)