CRAFTING THE SKIES: Airbus A380's Journey from Factory to Flight

The Airbus factory in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, one of the largest and most modern aircraft production sites in the world. Its 16,000 workers and engineers work on the production line for high-tech jetliners. In just five weeks, the team can fully equip the gigantic A380, including its exclusive first-class cabin, containing a bar and luxury bathrooms. Every tiny scratch needs to be reworked so that we have really a perfect appearance of this cabin. During the test flight, the pilots and engineers push the plane to its limits. They check whether everything in the cabin works as intended and test the aircraft's air pressurization system. Ready? Then we depress now. Please. Pack one. Check. In the modern paint shop, the paint is applied layer by layer until the jet's exterior is gleaming new. Maximum allowed thickness is 330 microns, so quite thin. The Airbus employees have one goal, building high-tech aircraft faster and cheaper than ever before in the face of intense competition. In a different part of the site, the latest addition to the Airbus fleet, the A350, is being fitted out. Hall 261 is home to a large-scale assembly line. At six separate workstations, the roughly 13-meter-long sections of the plane's fuselage are fitted out, up to a certain level of completion. Then, at predetermined intervals, or tacks, each section moves up the assembly line. When a section is fully equipped, it leaves the hangar. Production manager Michel Witt leads a crew of 130 aircraft engineers, working in a two-shift system. Here in Hamburg, in this hangar, we perform the system installation of the so-called forward section, which starts behind the cockpit and which ends in front of the wings, and the rear section, which starts behind the wing and ends at the rear end. System installation is the installation of mechanical systems, like air-conditioning pipes and electrical systems, so harnesses, for data transfer. The transport team brings a new, empty section into the hall and puts it in position one in the assembly line. The engineers use a joystick to precisely manoeuvre the extremely heavy load into its resting place. When the sections arrive in the hangar, they are completely empty, except for any load-bearing structures. Inside the fuselage, the mechanics use a mirror ball to guide a finely calibrated laser beam to pre-set measuring points. A measuring instrument then determines whether the hull is perfectly straight. Cockpit was installed in St. Nazaire. Here, in Toulouse, the fine programming is carried out. At this station, the wing, which has just arrived from Bremen, is mounted and firmly connected to the fuselage. Each wing is 32 metres long and is first glued to the hull, before being secured in place with thousands of rivets. What's special about this plane is its lightweight construction. Many components are made from carbon fibre. Nearly the entire fuselage and the wings are made from CFRP. Other aircraft have a lower proportion of carbon fibre parts. Initially, it was difficult to work with this material. Nowadays, it's commonplace. It has a lot of advantages when compared to aluminium. The A350 is a plane with some amazing features. It represents the future of aeroplane construction. It's really a next-generation aircraft. For Bonnet, the A350 stands out as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective jetliner. One reason for the low fuel consumption is, apart from its lightweight construction, the design of the wing. The wings are optimised, as are the wingtips. And then we have the new engines, which also contribute to low kerosene consumption. The latest model of the A350 can carry around 350 passengers and, on a single tank of fuel, cover a distance of over 14,000 kilometres. The upper and lower passenger decks are connected with a staircase. Due to its sheer size, installing this component calls for patience and precision. The fitters need to move the staircase into position from both levels simultaneously and carefully fix it in place. Rectifying any mistakes later will be extremely difficult. So, both of the bolts are fixed. The hardest part is done. You just need to secure it underneath. Right, now we're going to align the staircase. It will be fixed at the bottom to the floor. The interior fittings are delivered by external suppliers. The fitters install them carefully and then cover them up, to avoid any damage occurring. The side walls, the ceiling walls, they need to be assembled here in Hamburg and we need to put them in five big pieces, in order to install them step by step, so that the whole stairway is completed in the first days. The two passenger decks are around 15 metres long and 6 metres wide. The aircraft mechanics clean every window and carry out a visual inspection. Before starting with the cabin installation, we are checking all the areas behind the cabin panels, including the windows, if they are really clean and good for delivery, so that we don't have to reinstall the cabin just to clean up a window in the later process. So, this is our risk mitigation, that we have to reopen a cabin in the further process, checking everything before starting with our installation. The A380 was intended as Airbus' response to the Boeing jumbo jet. Yet the market has changed. Now the trend is towards smaller and more efficient passenger planes. I really like this aircraft for its dimensions and this complexity, this calm behaviour during flight. When we looked at the wings, these huge wings, where you can look from the stage over the wings, this is an amazing impression. And flying with that aircraft is really a wonderful experience, with this calm cabin and this comfort, which is delivered through this aircraft. While waiting for its transfer flight, the aircraft remains parked on an isolated part of the tarmac. Airbus employees are now only allowed on board with the customer's permission. Once the airline has transferred the final instalment and Airbus has been paid in full, there is nothing left to do. The Emirates pilots assume control of their new A380. The tower provides clearance for take-off. To the delight of its loyal passengers, the majestic giant takes to the skies.