Toulouse is where Airbus assembles its planes and there are guided visits to the assembly line for the mighty Airbus 380.
It’s a bit of a trek involving metro, tram and then a 20 minute walk, but well worth it.
You start at the new Aeroscopia Flight Museum and you’re bus-ed across to the giant hanger where the planes are put together. They arrive here in bits but it only takes around eight days to assemble them using over 19 thousand rivets. From the viewing platform I see five planes in various states of construction and the list price, without engines or internal décor is a cool 428 million dollars.
Oh - and you’ll have to wait two years for delivery.
The museum has a couple of
Concordes, one of which you can go inside, last used by former President Giscard d’Estaing, and decked out accordingly. Next to it are an Airbus A330B and a reconstructed Bleriot monoplane.
There are also fighter planes including a MIG-15, F-1046 Starfighter and a German Messerschmitt BF-109, all restored to their previous state. Most impressive is the large wide-bodied Super Guppy cargo plane, whose huge nose swings open to allow it to transport oversize freight.
All these planes have been collected by a group of former airbus employees and you can spot the rest of their collection just across the road, exposed to the elements and desperately looking for a home.