Airbus in Germany

The Airbus sites in Germany contribute in a wide variety of ways to the success of the world's leading aircraft manufacturer.

Hamburg, headquarters of Airbus Deutschland and the largest site in Germany, employs more than 10,000 people and plays a decisive role in the development and engineering of all Airbus aircraft. Final assembly takes place here for three of the four members of the A320 Family - the A318, A319 and A321. Hamburg is headquarters of the Centre of Excellence for cabin and cargo customisation, and also is the site where A300/A310, and A320 Family aircraft have their cabin interiors fitted and where they are painted ready for final delivery. Hamburg will carry out the complete interior furnishing of the A380 cabins and painting of the aircraft. In addition, final acceptance and delivery of A380s to customers in Europe and the Middle East takes place in Hamburg.

In manufacturing, Hamburg's many years of experience goes into fuselage structural assembly and systems installation, making it part of the Centre of Excellence forward and aft fuselages. Hamburg produces complete fuselage sections for the A380, which are shipped to France on a specially-built roll-on, roll-off ferry. Other key activities in Hamburg include the major spares centre (another key Airbus spares centre is in Frankfurt), and A320 Family maintenance training facilities and procurement.

More than 3,100 persons are employed at Bremen, the second largest Airbus site in Germany. Here, the whole process chain for the high-lift elements of Airbus wings is established, with the project office, technology engineering, flight physics, system engineering, structure development, verification tests, structural assembly, wing equipping and then delivery to the final assembly line. In addition, Bremen is part of the Centre of Excellence for forward and aft fuselages, and it manufactures sheet metal parts like clips and thrust crests for all Airbus aircraft.

The Nordenham facility - which also is part of the Centre of Excellence for forward and aft fuselages - is the central facility for manufacturing fuselage shells for all Airbus aircraft. This plant, which has a workforce of more than 2,100, produces around 300 shells per month in a largely automated production process. A new production hall was built to house production of fuselage shells for the A380.

The vertical tail planes for all Airbus aircraft are produced at Stade. The site has become one of the world's leading centres in the use of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), the weight-saving composite material which Airbus has increasingly incorporated into its aircraft, including the vertical tail plane. Stade employs nearly 1,500 people, and also produces other components from CFRP, such as landing flaps for single-aisle aircraft, and spoilers for the A300-600R, A310, A330 and A340. The pressure bulkheads for the A330, A340 and A380 are included in Stade’s production responsibilities.

The manufacturing of complex machined aircraft structural components and tooling manufacture for all seven Airbus sites in Germany takes place at Varel. The site, which employs more than 1,100 people, turns out more than 19,000 different milled components, made mainly from aluminium but also from steel and titanium, and a total of 2.5 million single components per year. Varel also specialises in the construction of wind tunnel models.

The Airbus site at Buxtehude forms part of the cabin & cargo customisation Centre of Excellence. This is where all the electronic communications and cabin management systems needed by both crew and passengers are developed and produced. These include the Cabin Intercommunication Data System (CIDS) and the Passenger Service Channel (PSC). Buxtehude also has expertise in communications systems, for example enabling passengers to use their own mobile phones. The Buxtehude site, with a workforce of some 350 employees, also concentrates on development and production of the internationally-certified SKYpower power supply system. This system is from KID-Systeme GmbH, a 100-per cent subsidiary of Airbus Deutschland GmbH that is a supplier of cabin intercom and data systems technology. SKYpower is directly integrated into the passenger seat, and generates the power needed to operate laptops and PEDs (Personal Electronic Devices) onboard aircraft.

The Laupheim operation - which previously was the 100-per cent-owned Aircabin subsidiary - has been fully merged into Airbus since January 2005. With its some 1,100 employees, the plant specialises in the development and production of cabin interiors, cargo hold panels, crew rest compartments and air ducts. Laupheim forms part of the Cabin & Cargo and Customisation centre of competence. As a systems supplier, the company can offer complete cabin concepts and solutions, including engineering, production and logistics, through support on the final assembly line. For the A380 cabin interior, Airbus at Laupheim is the prime contractor for the cabin lining.






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