RSS Feed

Related Articles

Related Categories

New Air France hangar in Paris welcomes first Airbus A380

26th November 2008 Print
On Saturday 22 November 2008, the new H6 hangar at Paris-Charles de Gaulle welcomed the first Airbus A380 from Toulouse. This new hangar has been specifically designed for maintenance of Airbus A380 aircraft in the Air France fleet.

On the evening before Air France ground staff took over this Airbus super-jumbo, piloted by an Air France crew, as soon as it landed in Paris-Charles de Gaulle. After a series of tests at the airport carried out at terminal S3, the aircraft was handed over to teams from Air France Industries, in charge of aircraft maintenance.

For the first time the Airbus A380 was towed inside Air France’s new H6 hangar where compatibility tests were carried out. Mobile docks, manoeuvrable structures that enable mechanics to reach the aircraft and proceed with maintenance, were set up around the aircraft. Tests on the maintenance equipment, positioned around the wings, the body, the upper deck and the horizontal tail fin all gave satisfactory results.

Tests on noise and luminosity levels were also carried out simultaneously with WIFI tests between the aircraft and the IT network in the hangar.

Lastly, an Airbus A321 was parked next to the Airbus A380 to check compatibility of the dedicated maintenance equipment for the aircraft.

The Air France H6 hangar covers a total area of 25,800 sq.m of which 12,500 sq.m specifically designed for aircraft maintenance large enough to hold an Airbus A380 as well as two medium-haul aircraft at the same time.

90 metres long, 110 metres wide and 40 metres high, the hangar took 24 months to build and involved 455,000 hours of work.

In keeping with its commitment to the environment, Air France built the hangar according to High Environmental methods, which at term will enable the airline to obtain ISO 14001 certification for this new industrial unit.