Visit the Airbus factory at Toulouse

Post by **luchtzak** » 10 Aug 2003, 21:49

All right,

I just returned from Toulouse where I staid till late this afternoon. Swimming-pool all day is nice for a change!

Yesterday we took the taxi we ordered to bring us to Taxiway at 14.00 we had rendez-vous!

We had to leave our passports and our cameras

and paid 9 euro

At 14.00 we had to climb in air-conditioned bus on our way to the Airbus-factory just next to the meeting-point. The friendly lady explained everything in French (English explanation on demand) The bus-trip took about 30 minutes, the first aircraft we passed was the Concorde! we could also see some planes that where ready to deliver:

- Qatar Airways A340-600 woow !!

- about 10 China Eastern A320's
- Iberia, Virgin Atlantic and South African A340-600

I also saw Emirates first A340-600, not coloured yet but engines from Emirates (to do testflights)

I could also see some A320's from Finnair, Iberia, JetBlue and others that I forgot...

During the bus-trip the lady explained us all the different areas at Airbus: St. Martin du Touch (assembly for A300/A310/A320 and ATR's), the Flight Test Area (all aircrafts have a green / yellow protection layer and a/c's are prepared for testings, also flight tests), the Design Office (2200 people and 1100 people working on the design of the A380!!), the flight test aircraft for A340-600 and A340-500 and the toulouse airport in the back...

After the bustrip we stopped at the main-entrance of the Clément Ader plant, there we saw a video on Airbus for about 15 minutes, for me it was purely a commercial-minded thing. Nothing special...

Then we had to go up 4 floors at 15 meters to get a nice overview of the assembly-hall (14 acres, 1600 feet long !, 800 feet large and 150 feet high). Beluga's arrive, offload there cargo (wings, fuselage, etc...) in nearly 45 minutes and then they start assembling the aircraft. You have gotta see this! I saw that they where making a new SWISS A340 (with which money will they pay that ?) a South African A340 and some other unknown they where way back in the assembly hall!!

Then after that we descended back down the main-hall where I saw an A340-600 about 5 meters long ! Incredible!

After the bustrip back to the meeting-point they dropped us off at the shop (business business) where I bought 2 stickers (A319 and A330-300) Muisje and me fly on them, 2 pins for our coats (also A319 and A330), an A340-600 Scabak and an A319 scabak Airbus colours, a poster with all the different Airbusses possible, a set of magnets for the fridge with all the different Airbusses possible!! Really nice!

It was a nice 1h30 minutes round-trip... Now at the return-flight to Brussels we met a passenger who happened to work in the Assembly-hall and she could arrange us a private round-trip for Oktober or November !! A visit to A340-600 to watch it close would be very nice. Saturdays trip was crowded with a bus-load of spectators so they couldn't allow a view in the assembly hall or in an aircraft... Now my question is that everybody wants to make a trip on a charter for about 160 € to do an 1h30 minutes round-trip at the Airbus-factory? I really liked the visit but I am not convinced that it is whorth-while to organise such a big happening .... Your opinions please

If you have more questions just ask them, I will try to answer them

ciao,

Bart
:rock:

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 10 Aug 2003, 23:12

Very nice report Bart

luchtzak wrote: I bought 2 stickers (A319 and A330-300) Muisje and me fly on them, 2 pins for our coats (also A319 and A330), an A340-600 Scabak and an A319 scabak Airbus colours, a poster with all the different Airbusses possible, a set of magnets for the fridge with all the different Airbusses possible!! Really nice!

Are those souvenirs expensive or not

Well, a 1h30 round trip is indeed a bit short, but if you can arrange a visit in some planes

it would be great

I'm still ready to do such a trip.
Maybe we can ask if they do such factory visits in Hamburg, and hope they last longer there

Ciao
Chris
8)

Post by **luchtzak** » 10 Aug 2003, 23:16

Total was less than 70 €, not that expensive.

A340-600 22 €
A319 13€
Stickers 1.50 € each = 3 €
Poster 4 €
Magnets 9 €
Pins 7.30 € each = 14.60 €

I 'm crazy but for once I am there! I also saw a maquette of A319 in special fibre at 199 € !! Didn't buy that one

ciao,

Bart
:rock:

Post by **sn26567** » 11 Aug 2003, 10:57

luchtzak wrote:I saw an A340-600 about 5 meters long ! Incredible!

You mean a model? 5 m long?

Post by **luchtzak** » 11 Aug 2003, 10:58

Indeed, a model of 5 meters long! Really nice but too have to take with me

ciao,

Bart
:rock:

liebensd · Post by **liebensd** » 11 Aug 2003, 13:16

Luchtzak wrote:Now my question is that everybody wants to make a trip on a charter for about 160 € to do an 1h30 minutes round-trip at the Airbus-factory?

Is it maybe not possible to buy a couple of seats on the general flight of SNBA to Toulouse, if you do that you will probably get an interesting price and you don't have to have 82 passengers for a charter.

Greetz,

Dave

Post by **sn26567** » 11 Aug 2003, 14:11

liebensd wrote:Is it maybe possible to buy a couple of seats on the general flight of SNBA to Toulouse, if you do that you will probably get an interesting price and you don't have to have 82 passengers for a charter.

With only 21 amateurs, and the fact that the visit is not recommended on a Saturday (which means that many of the interested persons might not come), this sounds like a sensible proposal. But would the price be better than the best buy at ~200 € ?

liebensd · Post by **liebensd** » 16 Aug 2003, 14:18

Does anyone have experience in ordering a lot of aircraft tickets? With only 21 persons who want to join us to the Airbus Factory in Toulouse, it is not so interesting to charter an aircraft. My question is when you order for example 25 tickets on the same flight, how fast reduces the price of one ticket then?

Greetz,

Dave

killerwhale65 · Post by **killerwhale65** » 17 Aug 2003, 18:52

22 now

I definately wanna go!
A private tour that differs a bit from the normal one would be extremely nice, but normal sounds also very good.

question: can non-members also join us?

Post by **sn26567** » 17 Aug 2003, 22:15

killerwhale65 wrote:question: can non-members also join us?

Of course they can. The more fools, the more we'll laugh during the tour

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 20 Aug 2003, 17:40

Of course they can. The more fools, the more we'll laugh during the tour

and the less it'll cost

I've got news from VLM:

Here's a copy of the e-mail I received:

Dear,

Further to your request, we are pleased to offer you following charter quote
for our Fokker 50:

DAYRETURN

Route: BRUSSELS / TOULOUSE / BRUSSELS

From To Flighttime Nbr of passengers

BRUSSELS TOULOUSE 2H11 50
TOULOUSE BRUSSELS 2H11 50

Number of days: 1

Price: 17.045 EURO nett

Included in the charterprice are the passenger airport fees/taxes, standard catering (business meal) and free bar service (champagne not included).

This offer is valid 1 month and subject to contious availability.

Yours sincerely,

It'll cost 340.9€ per person which is much more than the best buy offers from SNBA.

Ciao
Chris
8)

Post by **luchtzak** » 20 Aug 2003, 17:54

Chris,

thanks very much to do all this work! Indeed it would be better to look at the best buy offers!

Dave (Liebensd) allready asked me to contact the SN Brussels Airlines booking centre which I will do shortly.

ciao,

Bart
:rock:

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 20 Aug 2003, 18:15

Allright,
thx a lot Bart

Ciao
Chris
8)

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » 20 Aug 2003, 22:20

Guys,

If there are people who wants to go to the factory but can't affort to pay 160 EUR, maybe whe can have a look and see if there is any interest in going by luxury bus...
I've got family in that business so for cheap prices will be no problem!

Greetz,
Stephen

Post by **sn26567** » 20 Aug 2003, 23:37

Stephen,

Thanks for your interesting proposal.

The trip by luxury bus might be cheap and is certainly more comfortable than by plane, but given the duration of the trip, a night in a local hotel will be necessary...

Unless our explorers agree to sleep in the bus...

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » 21 Aug 2003, 08:42

Hi Andre,

Now drive time is small 10 hours, but I can arrange a sleepcoach, 44 seat bus which we can convert druing night to a bed...
that's maybe confortable...

And ofcourse, it's much longer then by a/c but if you want to dump price...

Greetz,
Stephen

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 21 Aug 2003, 10:28

Stephen,

I think that is a great ID! But it has to be a real 10 stars bus

Is there a DVD player in that bus? Maybe somewone who has the DVD of Sobelair, can bring it with him, so we can see it on the bus?

Regards,

Rutger

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » 21 Aug 2003, 11:26

Rutger,

No DVD on board the bus, but someone can tape it over on a normal videotape... and we can look at it, no problem!

THis a very comfortable 4* luxury sleep coach... 40/44 places..

Maybe it have missed it but is there a date in mind already... ?

Regards,
Stephen

PS: I have video of SN319/737 & Citybird 767

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 21 Aug 2003, 11:37

The trip by luxury bus might be cheap and is certainly more comfortable than by plane, but given the duration of the trip, a night in a local hotel will be necessary...

I don't think that a such a long bus trip is more comfortable than an flight with an AVRO

But a bus trip would ba a good idea, to do a spottingday at AMS for example

Ciao
Chris
8)

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » 21 Aug 2003, 12:27

Chris,

Yes by plane more comfortable ok... but I think for many people the bus will be more comfortable for their wallet...

Greetz

Aviation24.be

Visit the Airbus factory at Toulouse

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