A day with Airbus

I know It’s been quite a while since airshow season (ok it feels like last year already) but I thought I would share with you my day at Farnborough thanks to Airbus.

Being a total geek and an Airbus girl ( Sorry all Boeing lovers) I jumped at the chance to go to a press/bloggers day hosted by them. I managed to get Nick a ticket too (he can be my plus 1 for a change).

After charging cameras and my phone the day arrived and we set off to Farnborough. We arrived, stumbled upon some twitter followers which was lovely, I love meeting people who follow me or who I follow. After finding the Airbus stands or should I say building, we recevied our passes for the day and the day started.

Airspace is the new cabin experience from Airbus and we were give the opportunity to take a look at what this is about. Even from a small section of the cabin it felt very spacious with the mood lighting and the little touches around the window. Working on aircraft has given me an insight into what I think customers want from their flight and for me a bright open fresh cabin is definietly a must. As well as the Airspace cabin we got to see some of the new technology that Airbus are looking into including drones, helicopters and not forgetting the aircraft.

The hospitality of Airbus was naturally amazing. We had a fantastic dinner provided with a hot meal and amazing desserts. All of this with a great view of the airfield ready for the flying display! Seeing a vertical take off of an A380 is amazing, watching it do its thing that you would never see at Heathrow. Next came the aircraft I was excited about the newest aircraft from Airbus the A350XWB having seen it already at a British Airways open day I knew what I would see but I hadn’t seen it fly before and it definitely didn’t disappoint. After a fantastic display from Airbus we got ready for our aircraft visits.

How many times do you get to see an empty A380 and I mean empty with no seats, side panels, bulkheads etc. Well the test A380 definietly shows the sheer size of the big bird, even going up some steps to go into the flight deck was very surreal. I have to say I appreciate the aircraft more now for going on one and would love to travel on one (need to decide where to go first).

For anyone who knows me the A350 is by far my favourite aircraft! So to get to explore around it and inside it was amazing, I still felt the same excitement I felt as that day with BA. Getting to sit in the seats as well as check out the crew rest which is huge was a great experience.

Both Nick and I had a fantastic day and really enjoyed the hospitality from Airbus and everyone who I spoke to. We felt it was worthwhile and gained knowledge about the aircraft and other products, all round a great geeky day for us avgeeks!!