[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