PHOTOS: How the giant Airbus is made!
Last updated on: February 25, 2011 08:59 IST
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
Airbus is the aircraft manufacturing arm of a European aerospace company, EADS. It is headquartered in Blagnac, near Toulouse in France.
The aircraft maker began life as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. Later it was jointly owned by EADS and BAE Systems. In 2003, however, BAE sold its 20 per cent holding in the company to EADS.
The company has close to 57,000 employees, including in India. Airbus makes the first commercially viable fly-by-wire airplane, the Airbus A320. It also makes the world's largest passenger aircraft, the A380.
So check out how an Airbus is made . . .
Image: General view of the Single Aisle A320 production line at the Airbus facility in Finkenwerder near Hamburg.
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How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
Airbus employees at the A320 production line at the aircraft maker's unit in Finkenwerder.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
The Single Aisle A320 production line in Finkenwerder near Hamburg is where this modern aircraft is made.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
A couple of Airbus A320s sit inside the hangar at the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
The cockpit section of an Airbus airplane is seen at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Airbus employees work in the fuselage section of an Airbus at the aircraft maker's facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
General view of fuselage sections of the A320 family of planes which are seen in a hangar at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
An Airbus employee works on a fuselage section of an A330 Airbus airplane at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
Side view of the Airbus A320 at the Airbus hangar in Finkenwerder where the giant passenger plane is produced.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Inside the fuselage section of an Airbus airplane at the Airbus unit in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire in France.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Airbus employees working on two Airbuses.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
An Airbus engineer checking out the miles of electrical wiring that goes into the making of an aircraft.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
A technician working inside an Airbus at the EADS unit in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire in France.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
It takes thousands of hours of tedious and meticulous planning and monitoring to ensure that a high precision flying machine like the Airbus is entirely trouble-free.
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How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters
Workers check equipment in the cockpit of an Airbus on the production line at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse.
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How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: David Gray/Reuters
A worker walks in front of a new A320 plane that is under construction at the Airbus factory located in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Philippe Wojazer/Reuters
An Airbus A380 on the production line at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
An Airbus employee works in the cockpit section of an A330 Airbus airplane at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
An Airbus employee works in the fuselage section of an A380 Airbus airplane at the Airbus facility in Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire January 20.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Stephane Mahe/Reuters
An Airbus employee checking the fuselage area of an Airbus A320.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
General view of the Single Aisle A320 production line at the Airbus facility in Finkenwerder near Hamburg.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the giant Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
View of the hangar where three huge Airbuses are being assembled.
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![](http://im.rediff.com/money/2011/feb/03budlogo.jpg)
How the Airbus is made!
Photographs: Christian Charisius/Reuters
The Airbus A320 production line at the EADS unit in Finkenwerder near Hamburg.
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