Airbus factory tours - anyone done them?

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Don't waste your time, did it back in 2011. You don't get to see much, it was a pretty big let down from what I have seen online its nothing like the Boeing tour. Basically you rock up at a visitors center which is just outside the site, once you pay & get ID checked you go into a holding area then herded into a room where you watch a 10-15min film, once that's done you get to put onto bus which takes you on site which pulled up next to final assembly building (not an assembly line) you enter the building & head up to a viewing area via lifts, there was about 3-4 aircraft bays in building, same viewing deck leads to an outside viewing deck which overlooks the airport/airfield, then you go down & back onto the bus then leave the site for the visitors center, once back there you go thru the A380 cabin mock up & I think they also had an A310 coughpit mock up there as well then there was souvenir shop. Did not bother with the aircraft museum tour as we would have had to wait a few hours as the English museum tour did not start shortly after factory tour. But I believe the museum tour includes a bus tour of site. If you plan to go make sure you submit your details a few days before going as they must do extra security checks for foreigners.
 
I'm doing it the day after tomorrow. If you're interested I can tell you more then?
 
I did the Hamburg Airbus factory tour in 2014, and very much enjoyed it. We only got to see the Airbus A320 production lines (no A380s there at the time), and it did seem like a bit of an ad for Airbus (in the same way as they really talk up Boeing in the Boeing factor tour in Seattle), but I still enjoyed it.

I'd definitely recommend it if you're going to be near Hamburg anyway, but probably wouldn't go out of my way for it. Perhaps incorporate it into a weekend trip to Germany ;)

I haven't been to the Toulouse factory but suspect that would be a little more exciting.
 
Thanks for the responses so far guys :)


I would be very interested indeed. Thanks Will, hope to hear from you soon.

So it was pretty much like Sethor said. The viewing platform was a long way from A380s being assembled, the guide had a few facts but less than you could glean from Wikipedia, and the final video (of the first test flight) was only moderately diverting. I wouldn't bother going unless you were already in Toulouse, had nothing else to do, and €23 doesn't mean anything to you.
 
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Such a shame it has not changed, with a little effort it could be a big tourist drawcard for Toulouse.
 
Yup. I did the TLS tour and echo the other reports. Short Film, Bus to the final assembly line, up in a lift, look at the planes, down the lift, back to the centre.

Very big disappointment considering I went to TLS purely for this. The Boeing tour (I did it again a few weeks ago) is superior in every way.

I'm considering doing the HAM tour later this year as I couldn't make it when I was there earlier this year.
 
(no A380s there at the time)

I thought I read somewhere on here recently that there were no A380s sold in 2014, which perhaps explains why there were none to see..
 
(no A380s there at the time)

I thought I read somewhere on here recently that there were no A380s sold in 2014, which perhaps explains why there were none to see..

No new sales, but they are still going through order backlog.
 
OK, this thread answers my question about the Toulouse tour! I have just 2 days in the area, so won't waste time on this.
 
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