Visit to Airbus Factory in Toulouse, France (15-16 May 2006)
Yup, quite a lot of travelling the past few days, but this one's going to make many like-minded people envious! Dornier MedTech GmbH (where I'm working at) is owned by Accuron Technologies (majority) and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), who is a majority shareholder in Airbus SAS (80%). With the excellent arrangements of our EADS representative, Dornier MedTech was able to conduct our board meeting in the Airbus facilities in Toulouse, France, as well as tour the factory and see the upfront the next-big-thing in civilian aviation: The Airbus A380. Of course, I tagged along as a straggler, enjoying the First-Class VIP treatment along the way! :D
But just before I start, a disclaimer that due to etiquette, no pictures were taken of the food that we ate (some very very fine and rich French food in a very fine French restaurant, by the way). Also, no pictures were allowed within the A380 mock-up that we visited or the assembly plant.
So we left München on Monday afternoon, touching down in Toulouse in the evening. At Toulouse aeroport itself, we were greeted by obvious signs of Airbus presence (they share the same compound as the airport):
The Airbus A300-600ST Beluga, used to transport parts of planes from 1 location to another, excluding the A380 parts
Like I said, hard to miss, even from the runway
Following which was a dinner hosted by our EADS representative, Mr Michel Gombert, at a very expensive (we reckon) high-class French restaurant with authentic French cuisine and excellent wine (both white and red). Didn't know what were the expectations, so we just followed what our host did, every step of the way. Dinner lasted from 8,30pm till 11pm... that's fine-dining for you!
Got back to the hotel and quickly got into bed (of course after a shower). The wine helped, in addition to the air travel.
Waking up the next morning, we then got our security passes (which ended up as souvenirs as well) and got into a private minibus to the conference centre in Airbus. I was supposed to wait outside while they had their 90min board meeting, but well, I was allowed to sit in as long as I kept my mouth shut (some of you will know that's quite hard! :p), and so I did. Learnt quite abit from the board meeting, like how a board meeting is conducted and what are the issues important in a board meeting.
My security pass, proud representative of Dornier MedTech GmbH
Leather folder courtesy of Airbus
Even comes with a writing pad featuring the A380
So it ended on time, at 1030H. We then had a presentation by Mr. Joost Van Der Heijden, Airline Marketing Director, on Airbus updates, including their whole product line, from the A320 to the A350 and of course, the flagship A380. Following which was a discussion about Singapore's involvement in Airbus (I have no idea why, we're not "gah-men" officials), then adjorned to lunch, where we were hosted by a long-time friend of my Dad's, Dr. Andreas Sperl, Chief Financial Officer of Airbus.
So much for having lunch at their "canteen"... feels more like a 7-star restaurant to me! Definitely more posh than the one we went to the night before. The soup tasted like it was made entirely from oysters! Literally eating an artpiece, that's how high-end French cuisine is like. Along with 3 glasses on the table (champagne, white wine, red wine), I had to take small sips every time to avoid getting drunk!
A list of our distinguished hosts from Airbus at lunch:
Dr. Andreas Sperl, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Edouard Ullmo, Executive Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Africa & Corporate Jet
Mr. Daniel Therial, Senior Vice President, International Cooperation & Partnership
Mr. Thomas Friedberger, Head of Sales, South East Asia
Let's just say there was class:
Each seat was labelled with our names
With a customised in-house menu for the day
Really customised, as you can see
The menu lists 3 courses, but we had 4.
During lunch, Dr. Sperl had a wonderful opportunity to catch up with my Dad (he was the one who sold Dornier to Accuron, really!). At the end, he presented a gift to my Dad, a model of the A380, which he now places in his office here.
Not bad eh? Saved the money of buying one :D
After this was a tour of the A380 mock-up. The interior is amazing! The seats are wide and spacious, with economy seats having up to 1 inch more. The new-age First-Class is even more jaw-dropping: a compartment with a door and a flat-reclinable chair, not much different from a small hotel room. The staircase to the upper deck is wide enough for 2 or even 3 people across, comfortably. There was even a concept design for bars and a shopping area on the plane, complete with a wall waterfall! Yup, mouths were open almost the entire time. Really looking forward to flying on the A380 now!
Last on the agenda was a visit to the Final Assembly Line of the A380. There, we saw a few aircraft on final assembly with the huge SIA logo painted on the tail (for the ignoramus, Singapore Airlines will be the launch customer of the A380, with the first plane due to be delivered in end-2006). Very impressive to see how it was all put together, but it didn't take very long as we couldn't see much anyway. Most of the plane was surrounded with equipment.
So that's it. Hopped on the minibus where we were driven to the airport for our return flight. But of course, at the airport itself, we could see one final glimpse of a completed, fully-operational A380 in house colours.
The Airbus A380
Photobucket: Visit to Airbus
PS: Visit the photobucket, you might see something interesting.
But just before I start, a disclaimer that due to etiquette, no pictures were taken of the food that we ate (some very very fine and rich French food in a very fine French restaurant, by the way). Also, no pictures were allowed within the A380 mock-up that we visited or the assembly plant.
So we left München on Monday afternoon, touching down in Toulouse in the evening. At Toulouse aeroport itself, we were greeted by obvious signs of Airbus presence (they share the same compound as the airport):
The Airbus A300-600ST Beluga, used to transport parts of planes from 1 location to another, excluding the A380 parts
Like I said, hard to miss, even from the runway
Following which was a dinner hosted by our EADS representative, Mr Michel Gombert, at a very expensive (we reckon) high-class French restaurant with authentic French cuisine and excellent wine (both white and red). Didn't know what were the expectations, so we just followed what our host did, every step of the way. Dinner lasted from 8,30pm till 11pm... that's fine-dining for you!
Got back to the hotel and quickly got into bed (of course after a shower). The wine helped, in addition to the air travel.
Waking up the next morning, we then got our security passes (which ended up as souvenirs as well) and got into a private minibus to the conference centre in Airbus. I was supposed to wait outside while they had their 90min board meeting, but well, I was allowed to sit in as long as I kept my mouth shut (some of you will know that's quite hard! :p), and so I did. Learnt quite abit from the board meeting, like how a board meeting is conducted and what are the issues important in a board meeting.
My security pass, proud representative of Dornier MedTech GmbH
Leather folder courtesy of Airbus
Even comes with a writing pad featuring the A380
So it ended on time, at 1030H. We then had a presentation by Mr. Joost Van Der Heijden, Airline Marketing Director, on Airbus updates, including their whole product line, from the A320 to the A350 and of course, the flagship A380. Following which was a discussion about Singapore's involvement in Airbus (I have no idea why, we're not "gah-men" officials), then adjorned to lunch, where we were hosted by a long-time friend of my Dad's, Dr. Andreas Sperl, Chief Financial Officer of Airbus.
So much for having lunch at their "canteen"... feels more like a 7-star restaurant to me! Definitely more posh than the one we went to the night before. The soup tasted like it was made entirely from oysters! Literally eating an artpiece, that's how high-end French cuisine is like. Along with 3 glasses on the table (champagne, white wine, red wine), I had to take small sips every time to avoid getting drunk!
A list of our distinguished hosts from Airbus at lunch:
Dr. Andreas Sperl, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Edouard Ullmo, Executive Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Africa & Corporate Jet
Mr. Daniel Therial, Senior Vice President, International Cooperation & Partnership
Mr. Thomas Friedberger, Head of Sales, South East Asia
Let's just say there was class:
Each seat was labelled with our names
With a customised in-house menu for the day
Really customised, as you can see
The menu lists 3 courses, but we had 4.
During lunch, Dr. Sperl had a wonderful opportunity to catch up with my Dad (he was the one who sold Dornier to Accuron, really!). At the end, he presented a gift to my Dad, a model of the A380, which he now places in his office here.
Not bad eh? Saved the money of buying one :D
After this was a tour of the A380 mock-up. The interior is amazing! The seats are wide and spacious, with economy seats having up to 1 inch more. The new-age First-Class is even more jaw-dropping: a compartment with a door and a flat-reclinable chair, not much different from a small hotel room. The staircase to the upper deck is wide enough for 2 or even 3 people across, comfortably. There was even a concept design for bars and a shopping area on the plane, complete with a wall waterfall! Yup, mouths were open almost the entire time. Really looking forward to flying on the A380 now!
Last on the agenda was a visit to the Final Assembly Line of the A380. There, we saw a few aircraft on final assembly with the huge SIA logo painted on the tail (for the ignoramus, Singapore Airlines will be the launch customer of the A380, with the first plane due to be delivered in end-2006). Very impressive to see how it was all put together, but it didn't take very long as we couldn't see much anyway. Most of the plane was surrounded with equipment.
So that's it. Hopped on the minibus where we were driven to the airport for our return flight. But of course, at the airport itself, we could see one final glimpse of a completed, fully-operational A380 in house colours.
The Airbus A380
Photobucket: Visit to Airbus
PS: Visit the photobucket, you might see something interesting.
posted by Chiu Weng | 4:42 PM
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