[Music]

the Airbus a350 the most advanced

commercial aircraft in the world

its construction nothing short of a

masterpiece on the grand scale and down

to the smallest detail two and a half

million components 1,800 professionals

for the final assembly alone together

constructing an aircraft the likes of

which the world has never seen before

the goal

minimal fuel consumption maximum range

the product of precision workmanship

expertise and quite simply cry and all

this is only possible thanks to perfect

mega manufacturing

[Music]

Toulouse France the headquarters of

Europe's largest aircraft manufacturer

and black Airbus workers construct the

most advanced passenger aircraft in the

world

the Airbus a350 one o'clock in the

afternoon one of the fleet of beluga

transport aircraft arrives for the

delivery of components so-called because

its shape resembles that of the white

whale it is key to the construction

process a 1500 cubic metre cargo

compartment and a 47 metric ton payload

an entire fuselage section of the a350

fits in the belly of a single beluga or

as in this case one of its wings

measuring 32 metres in length it would

be practically impossible to build the

a350 without the Beluga fleet but tea

stone a must see to it that his team

unloads all the Freight within an hour

every delay triggers a chain reaction

disrupting construction of the world's

most advanced passenger aircraft

unloading the unique beluga super

transporters is batiste dream job

I'm very proud about Beluga fleet the

key to the entire assembly operation

running smoothly

I've loved planes since childhood my

father and my grandfather worked at

Airbus our family has always been

fascinated with aviation the beluga

fleet fly's wings fuselage sections

cabin furnishing and vertical tail

planes for the a350 from around europe

to these assembly hangars in toulouse

4,500 suppliers and 12 airbus facilities

are involved in its production the

background behind this complex puzzle

Airbus was established in the 1960s as a

consortium of companies from across the

European continent different locations

have different areas of expertise to

this day

of particular importance to the

production of the a350 are the sights in

France Spain Germany and Great Britain

the nose and midsection come from the

saunas air plant the tail section from

Hamburg the wings are manufactured in

Britain and Bremen the horizontal tail

plane insha Tophet all of these

shipments must be perfectly coordinated

head of the unit that built a Healy it's

our job to ensure that all the parts are

transported on time we have to always

make sure that all of the components are

on hand here thanks to our fleet of

transport aircraft we can get anything

that's missing here straight away we

need around three hours to pick up a

part from anywhere inside Europe

the Beluga provides us with an extremely

quick and safe way of getting all the

parts we need in a timely manner our

system is absolutely reliable even when

everything is running smoothly the a350

still has to go through seven stations

with 120 aircraft a year this demands

absolute perfection everything begins in

station 59 the first stage of the final

assembly line around 40 workers fit out

the fuselage with the large components

of the passenger cabin such as the

galley and washrooms nine such fuselage

segments can be worked on in parallel

here

responsible for this work is false what

do we go down he oversees each machine

for 80 days from the first assembly step

to completion this is where assembly

begins the sections of the a350s

fuselage arrive here from all over

Europe we work on outfitting the

passenger cabin from the very first

station to the last station

what makes this assembly line unique is

that we fit out the passenger cabin and

assemble the aircraft in parallel this

change to the workflow allows us to

minimize production time 6:30 in the

morning team briefing at the start of

the shift 15 workers mostly electricians

and installation technicians divide up

the day's tasks amongst themselves they

have to install the galleys washrooms

and crew rest compartments any special

requests from the airline's

are incorporated here too

the outfitting work is performed on all

fuselage sections and shifts this way no

team has to wait for another in the tail

section of a future a 352 workers make

preparations for the installation of the

galley assembly instructions

individually pack screws it all

resembles a bit like a flat-pack

wardrobe from a furniture store it's not

as simple as it looks it's very

different to screwing together an Ikea

bookshelf that would be great but it

isn't like that unfortunately it takes

highly-trained craftsmen even the

smallest of installations can affect the

safety of the finished aircraft as such

special expertise is required for every

single operation it takes months and

often years to train our workers in

contrast with a cupboard from a

furniture store it's critical that

nothing can shift even during the most

severe turbulence no screw may fail a

big responsibility for the workers

[Music]

just as it is for the quality inspectors

in the adjacent fuselage section they

have to first approve the delivered

fuselages for outfitting but only if

every bulkhead every electrical

component and even the floor is free of

defects the supplier has already

ultrasonically inspected it for damage

on departure but a lot could have

happened during transport and nothing

can be left to chance the next fuselage

has already been released craftsman seal

the floor where the lavatory will later

be installed the film prevents moisture

from penetrating the floor like

everywhere in the aircraft there are

electrical cables there too and there

are more of them in the high-tech 8350

than in most other commercial aircraft

there are instructions for every task

each worker must double check that the

work has been performed to the exacting

standard in the first hangar the teams

install components that would no longer

fit through the doors once the fuselage

is assembled a resting cabin for the

pilots arrives the Airbus crew installs

it behind the cockpit and above the

galley the a350 is a long-haul airliner

it can fly nonstop for up to 20 hours

there are several pilots on board for

such flights who take it in turns to

rest

[Music]

work on the fuselage sections continues

without a break they are after all

expected to fly away soon next up is

stationed 50 of the final assembly line

the fuselage sections are now ready for

their big moment the so-called marriage

waiting at station 50 our deputy unit

head our know heavy and team manager

will Fremont ton they have the nose

section for an a350 maneuvered into the

hangar Arno has worked at Airbus for 16

years and on the a350 final assembly

line for six of these the aircraft is

very popular over 250 of them have been

delivered today and there are orders for

a further 890 on the books with this

number of outstanding orders every stage

of production is subject to an extremely

strict timetable

[Music]

on the vehicle because of the number of

parts that have to be assembled to build

an aircraft and the large number of

subcontractors partners and factories

that supply them to us there are a whole

host of risk factors we often have to

set priorities in order to ensure that

the aircraft arrives at the next station

on time we sometimes allow work that has

not yet been finished to be completed at

the next station our overriding priority

is to avoid at all costs the next

station being prevented from continuing

with the assembly work once the nose

section is in place the transport

operator maneuvers the middle section

into the hangar both sections are

already equipped with lines for the

hydraulic water oxygen and

air-conditioning systems they are

already insulated and wiring harnesses

are installed under the ceiling

the tail section waits in front of the

hanger in the case of the a350 1000 the

three fuselage sections together

measured seventy-three point eight

meters in length seven meters more than

the shorter version the operators align

the fuselage sections with a tenth of a

millimeter precision before they join

them together with around 40,000

fasteners

as with the rest of the construction

most of this work is performed by hand

over 10,000 rivets hold the carbon-fiber

piece allows sections together no other

aircraft uses such a high proportion of

carbon fiber as the a350

because the material is extremely hard

the workers have to use especially high

quality drilling equipment 53% of the

a350 is composed of carbon composite

it's 40% lighter than aluminum and

allows much more complex shapes each

layer consists of super thin plies of

carbon fiber embedded in a synthetic

resin matrix and there are several

layers a process that takes a few days

in the aviation industry composites are

viewed as the materials of the future

and are increasingly replacing aircraft

aluminum

the aircraft is fitted with its iconic

nose gear at this station all in

parallel with the myriad other processes

taking place this component alone is

constructed from around a thousand parts

primarily made from high tensile steel

it too is installed by hand every

connection is bonded and bolted for

safety

[Music]

following installation the workers check

the functionality of the landing gear

[Music]

it's activated by remote control instead

of the pilot pressing a button the

nosewheel must deploy at the same speed

it would during approach

the nose gear is now operational the

a350 fuselage must again switch hangers

to be fitted with its main landing gear

the workers hydraulically lower the

32-ton fuselage to rest on its support

wheels

a big moment the fuselage of the

wide-body jet will soon leave the hangar

in one piece

imagine a nuclear with you despite the

routine you're always learning something

new whether at a personal technical or

organizational level you start each day

in good spirits happy to be building

these amazing cutting-edge products

it requires total dedication at all

times from everyone

the massive fuselage rests on its wheels

for the first time and everyone holds

their breath

[Music]

the operator of the aircraft tractor

grabs the nosewheel to carefully push it

out of the hangar

just like maneuvering around the airport

[Music]

after being joined up at station 50 the

cigar as its affectionately known

continues on its journey a cigar is what

an assembled fuselage without wings is

called an aviation jargon these will be

fitted at the next station

the next tankers known as station 40 can

accommodate four cigars at the same time

there'll be almost complete aircraft

when they leave the aircraft will be 90%

finished when it leaves this station

Wings main landing gear tail assembly

the especial is here attach everything

visibly missing from the outside of the

aircraft to maintain efficiency several

teams work in parallel at this station

too a crane lifts the wing into position

that will later support the aircraft in

flight the 32 meter long and 6 meter

wide wings are the largest aircraft

components ever to be fabricated from

carbon fiber composite material

the wings of the a350 are something very

special their development was

painstaking and contained over 4,000

hours of wind tunnel testing positioning

them is an incredible feat to

several thousand rivets will now keep

the wings attached to the fuselage at

speeds of up to 960 kilometers per hour

[Music]

flap design is optimized to reduce

vortex generation resulting in better

lift efficiency and improved low-speed

performance while reducing aerodynamic

generated noise from the wing a special

droop nose is integrated into the

inboard wing leading edge it helps the

aircraft remain flyable even at low air

speeds this facilitates takeoff and

landing like the wing the horizontal

tail plane of the a350 is made from

carbon 2 it has a span of 19 meters and

was manufactured in a toffee spain as

with a fuselage segments and the wings

all of the electrical and hydraulic

systems have already been installed

[Music]

the vertical tail plane comes from Stata

in Germany it's the only component that

is painted prior to installation due to

its eventual height the main landing

gear of the a350 1000 consists of two

six wheel bogies during landing it has

to support a weight of up to 233 metric

tons

following installation flow on cuba ho

and his colleagues connect the hydraulic

lines that control the landing gear a

combination of adhesive and bulks is

used here as well

blowen hasn't always worked on landing

gear he used to be a bricklayer before

he applied for a job at Airbus I come

from Toulouse Airbus is the biggest

employer here and they started this new

program with the a350

they were recruiting workers so I

decided to try my luck at Airbus after

the interviews I was given training and

passed the exams then I was assigned

here to station 40 Airbus is not only

the biggest employer in Toulouse

aircraft construction is pretty much a

part of the regional identity here

[Music]

the scale of the facility is truly

impressive 23,000 people work for Airbus

and the hangars and offices surrounding

Toulouse vanya Airport they work five

days a week and two shifts lunchtime is

staggered the early shift workers go to

lunch first then the office staff

[Music]

the cooks working in the 15 restaurants

around the factory site prepared 2.6

million meals each year handling 13.5

tonnes of steak and 10.5 tons of salad

in the process

there are 20 company bus routes

operating on the Airbus site they

transport 800,000 passengers each year

anyone traveling to work with their own

car can expect to be subject to strict

controls the site traffic monitoring

service takes adherence to vehicle

controls very seriously no one is

allowed to drive faster than 30 km/h ok

understood I'll intercept it those

violating the traffic regulations risk

losing permission to enter the site

I'm from site security can you switch

your engine off and show me your ID and

parking permit please another citation

means suspension of the parking permit

you can use this to pick up your parking

permit in 8 days time you have to go to

gate B to get it back have a good day

sir

those who persistently violate the rules

lose their permit permanently back at

station 40 work continues after lunch

while wings landing gear and tail

assembly are being mounted to the

outside specialists are inside the plane

outfitting the cabin air

installing the cabin interior in

parallel to assembling the aircraft is

new this change alone has reduced

construction time by 1/3

Francois lui head of cabin installation

makes sure that there are no delays with

the installation we previously saw the

start of assembly when the large

components are installed hopefully when

you mow everything that wouldn't fit

through the cabin door later once the

fuselage is joined together that's what

I kept you know here we're installing

the so-called floor to floor the wall

lining overhead compartments and also

the safety components like the signals

for cabin crew and passengers and the

overhead units that contain the oxygen

masks massage devoid oxygen no nickel so

spooky the mask oxygen the cabin

functions are regulated by a central

control unit in the a350 it ensures 20%

higher air humidity and higher cabin

pressure that has been usual until now

making it feel a lot closer to normal

life on earth while the interior is

being installed a worker is in the cargo

hold with a rag and brush Cedric

Cabarrus I have to clean this area here

before I fix the insulating material in

place whatever is underneath it will no

longer be visible or accessible any

residues like a metal swarf or other

dirt that could be hidden behind it it

must be removed only when we're

absolutely sure that this area is

pristine can we lower the lining and fix

in place the installation between the

exterior and interior of the aircraft

cool exterior yeah voila

I'm good there are some traces here for

example I use a cleaning cloth with a

special solvent for this completely

there's something here too

no climbing tonight now I'm sure

everything is clean and I can close up

the insulation tell me that's what the

big moment for the entire team at

station 40 arrives their aircraft will

rest entirely on its own wheels for the

first time everything must be perfectly

clean no work residues no drop of oil is

allowed to contaminate the brand-new

aircraft or its tires

the workers activate the hydraulic

system they lower their over 100 ton

creation

[Music]

it's an emotional moment for everyone

including for our no real project was it

come on you could say it's like the end

of a pregnancy a kind of birth but

there's a birth at a station every eight

to nine days overtime that's an awful

lot of babies there's a part of us in

every plane we all put a lot of energy

and dedication into our work it makes us

very happy to have done our bit we'll

kill the poxy bit

our nose colleagues check the tire

pressure under the load of the

aircraft's weight

the aircraft is about 90% finished it's

time to bid farewell to station 40

[Music]

the doors open for the station's latest

offspring to enter the world

[Music]

so they're building aircraft is a real

pleasure and is something I'm proud of

this is matched by the great sense of

responsibility we feel when later our

families our children or friends climb

aboard so we're committed to doing a

perfect job every day never overlooking

anything and building aircraft of the

highest quality and it's true you can't

help being filled with a certain pride

each time you see one of these huge

machines flying away I said oh my gosh

my question for you look up there

everything is ready for that big moment

[Music]

the openings in the machine are covered

to protect against rain before the

aircraft is moved to the next hangar

[Music]

this new a350 will soon be flying for

China Southern Airlines millions of

people will be putting their lives and

their trust and the work performed by

our noiri and his team

[Music]

2.5 million individual parts are

installed in an a350 when finished and

they all have to be present of course

not even one part can be missing Airbus

gathers together the parts for its

aircraft at two logistic centers stored

on an area totaling eighty four thousand

square meters the equivalent of nearly

twelve football fields our aircraft

parts and everything needed for the

cabin interior galley overhead

compartments toilets and seats fifty

different airlines have ordered the a350

this means 50 different interiors for

business economy and first-class the

logistics specialist supplied the

components to the assembly hangars as

and when needed this just-in-time

process requires precision and supply

and demand

Davi Gaia is the head of the airlock

Center he must be aware of what parts

are needed at all times

if just a single curtain is missing the

aircraft cannot be delivered and the

entire production line grinds to a halt

bearing in mind the number of

outstanding orders for the a350 a

disaster

Navid tries to avoid delivery

bottlenecks and delays by way of stock

keeping

Airbus the strategy involves looking to

see whether greatest expertise in a

particular discipline is located this is

why we worked with many factories in

Europe and indeed throughout the world -

if you include all of our subcontractors

the logistics are highly complex and

that's precisely the challenge our

department faces we coordinate

everything and take delivery of parts

from all over the world that arrive by

plane train ship and of course by Road -

we're talking about 40,000 deliveries a

week about the count Mila reception were

bosserman and every single delivered

item is checked and logged by Devi staff

if any part turns out to be damaged his

team immediately organizes its

replacement or repair
[Music]

components for the a350 arrived on a

near daily basis by plane to seven days

a week from early in the morning until

midnight and then there are the machines

waiting to be delivered airbus has its

own tower in order to coordinate all

these flights for the factory in

toulouse the air traffic controllers

don't just monitor the air traffic

alexander claw VA has an overview of the

entire factory site on his monitors he

also coordinates the movement of

aircraft between the hangars every

machine to be maneuvered from one

station to the next

needs his approval and clearance

alexandra and his colleagues have to

coordinate 50 aircraft movements each

day and that doesn't even account for

the rest of the site traffic fox whiskey

whiskey Bravo Charlie ok cleared for

takeoff after the firetruck airbus

shares the runway with the public

Airport at Toulouse blonde yak

[Music]

Alexandra's team also coordinates the

cargo flights with a tower there a

beluga excel the prototype for an even

larger transport aircraft has just

landed today

a whiskey the existing beluga fleet

alone clocks up over 10,000 flight hours

each year we coordinate two types of

flights those of the development

department and those of production the

ones for the development department are

prototypes the flights for production

our aircraft destined for customers for

example that are being delivered to

Airlines two air traffic controllers are

always on duty at the same time the air

traffic control officer responsible for

the frequency controls the air traffic

in real time and we also have a

coordination officer who is in permanent

contact with the tower in ground yak and

the flight test center in order to get

takeoff clearance for the pilots he

organizes the takeoffs Paulie peanut it

don't get ready before the Airbus a350

reaches station 30 the lower the number

the closer the aircraft is to completion

Francois head of cabin installation

checks the fittings of the business

class seats quality control has done its

job and identified minor defects the

inspectors have discovered problems with

the movement of the seat backs with an

expensive business class seat is

expected to function flawlessly high

traveled comfort is an important

component of modern air transport for

Airbus the airlines and for the

increasingly discerning passenger Airbus

promises a 350 passengers higher levels

of comfort in all classes seats lighting

cabin pressure and cabin noise levels

have been significantly improved the

noise level for example is four times

lower than in comparable aircraft a

benefit that mustn't compromise quality

in other areas CubeSats testerone at

this station we install all the seats

from economy to business class dominate

up see the conclusion of you colleagues

from the quality control department

check whether the seats have been

installed properly if necessary defects

are rectified by the seat manufacturer

renews a void on train more daily work

Keystone fell apart on the fabric this

year

while the remedial work is going on

another team installs the seats in

economy class the fuselage of the a350

has an especially large diameter

hence the suffix xwb which stands for

extra wide-body in its standard

configuration the a350 1000 can

accommodate 366 passengers but it's also

possible to fit 10 seats per row this

would allow the aircraft to carry as

many as 440 passengers classes call is

the deputy head of station 30 she

supervises and coordinates 30

electricians and mechanics who perform

the preliminary function tests and take

care of small repairs at the same time

in contrast with every other assembly

line to Airbus the mechanical and

electrical systems of the a350 are work

done in parallel it is a great

responsibility to take care of the

safety of the employees and of the

aircraft especially here at station 30

where different departments work

simultaneously quality control

production and testing the key to our

successful work lies in the harmonious

cooperation required to build the

aircraft on time to the highest quality

and to everyone's safety

uncle et al security patron there are

specialists for every task however minor

[Music]

will this be ready soon yes the

specialists will drill the hole shortly

and then we can carry on perfect

super

I grew up in Toulouse so I always saw

planes and watched the maiden flights

[Music]

the residents of Toulouse have always

been surrounded by aviation for me

working here was a dream from an early

age today Claire supervises how workers

here at station 30 add the finishing

touches to the a350 the workers for

example close the last gap between the

fuselage and the wing at the site of the

aircraft

doctor please

[Music]

in the cargo hold

electrician said leak lumen is testing

the cabling a hundred eighty kilometers

of cable are installed in every a350

keeping track of everything here is a

complex undertaking

in position now okay I'm ready

blue boys okay

connect it to ground the electrician's

test every single cable in the aircraft

all the systems are still accessible for

now we're testing two cables this

involves increasing the voltage in order

to find out if the resistance is high

enough these are the cables that control

the engines after the test

Cedric's colleague seals off all the

connectors again no dirt can be allowed

to get into this sophisticated control

system

[Music]

all of the cables that the pilots use to

control the aircraft's functions

converge in front of the cargo hold

below the cockpit safety related systems

are installed and duplicate for

redundancy specialists inspect every

single cable connection here -

irrespective of how difficult they are

to get to they're always conscious of

their responsibility

[Music]

any mistake that electrician Nikolov in

the air makes now could have fatal

consequences this is where the

electronic control systems are located

the heart of the aircraft as it were

when doing my job I often think about

all the passengers who brought this

aircraft some day and set off on their

travels with complete confidence once

all the function tests have been

completed the aircraft moves on to the

penultimate station station 20 where its

engines will be fitted the a350 is

powered by two state-of-the-art turbofan

engines developed exclusively for this

aircraft by rolls-royce it's the most

fuel-efficient commercial aircraft

engine in the world

the Trent xwb

the engine specialist hydraulically

raised the massive turbine up to its

mounting points below the wing

they bulk the eight-ton 50,000

horsepower engine to the aircraft wing

using just two mounting brackets

the massive turbine consists of more

than 20,000 components most of them

fitted together by hand

once the turbine is secured on the pylon

the hydraulic transport vehicle is

lowered back down a single turbine costs

almost 32 million euros so great care

must be taken when maneuvering

[Music]

each of the two engines generates 370

four and a half kilonewtons of thrust

each turbine consists of 22 titanium

blades and has a diameter of nearly 3

meters during takeoff the engine takes

in over a metric ton of air each second

rolls-royce uses state-of-the-art

ceramic coatings inside the combustion

chamber because in this turbine the air

fuel mixture burns at extremely high

temperatures an excess of 2,000 degrees

Celsius the upshot around 15% lower fuel

consumption and significantly better

emission levels than its predecessor in

addition to this Trent xwb engines are

much quieter than any other aero turbine

essential for planes flying over heavily

populated conurbations

[Music]

before Airbus shipped the first a 350 in

December 2014 aircraft and engines were

subjected to extensive stress tests

under extreme climatic and weather

conditions that the aircraft would not

have to endure during normal operation

[Music]

back at station 20 cabin integrator

Nagato since about making the last few

minor adjustments everything must be

just right and adhere to the highest

standards to ensure acceptance by the

customer

[Music]

every reading light must be angled

properly no scratches must be allowed to

ruin the impression the list price of an

a350 1000 is almost 330 million euros so

the customer understandably expects to

receive a first-class product at this

point we examined everything again very

closely and place great emphasis on

protecting the cabin as all the elements

are very expensive if you install them

you should avoid damaging them as

several jobs are always being performed

inside the aircraft at the same time

everything has to be well-protected

unfortunately however we sometimes find

some damage or we discovered during

testing that a seat doesn't work

properly then we have to rectify the

issue through the Knitting walk just a

couple of days until completion time for

the plane to receive its paint job the

painters supply five coats of paint a

polyurethane paint with low volatile

organic compound content that's better

for the environment and the painters the

spray guns use an electrostatic spray

system they distribute the paint

extremely evenly thus reducing paint

consumption and aircraft weight

[Applause]

[Music]

after four and a half months on the

final assembly line a new Airbus a350 is

finished

finally the pilots take over and this

marvel of modern engineering and take to

the skies 10 aircraft of this type take

off on their maiden flight each month

soon hundreds of them will be connecting

continents and millions of people as

they are carried to their destinations

worldwide and as they do they'll be

flying on the most advanced passenger

aircraft in the world

the Airbus a350 from Toulouse