Will Be Home To 1,500 Employees Adjacent To Airport In Toulouse-Blagnac, France

Airbus Group has inaugurated its new headquarters facilities, called “Wings Campus”, adjacent to the airport in Toulouse-Blagnac, France.

Housing 1,500 employees, the new campus is located at the heart of Airbus’s production and engineering activities and comprises the Group headquarters as well as integrated services buildings. From ground-breaking to the start of operations, construction works were completed within 25 months; the new facilities at the “Wings Campus” include a variety of modern features designed to enhance the working environment and work-life-balance such as collaborative office space, a 5,000 square meters canteen, a fitness center, outdoor sports facilities, a Starbucks café and an outdoor WiFi connection. The energy-efficient buildings are heated and cooled using geothermal energy.

“The Wings Campus, with all its new elements, stands for our commitment to innovation, internationalisation and sustainable growth,” said Tom Enders, Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Group, at the inauguration ceremony. “We strive to be a responsible, open-minded, innovative and future-oriented industry player – and want our employees to embrace this spirit. For that, we also must provide a state-of-the-art working environment. These new facilities are testament to this global commitment and I would like to express my sincere thanks to all who have contributed to this effort over the past two years. Most important for me personally: With our new Headquarters next to the airport runway, we are as close to our flying products as safely possible. That gives me an extra thrill!”

At the same time, Enders reflected on Europe’s successful aviation heritage during the inauguration event by stressing the link between early pioneers and what is today Europe’s largest aerospace company. In the presence of a number of high-ranking guests such as the Préfet of the Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées Region, Pascal Mailhos, the Mayor of Blagnac, Bernard Keller, and the Mayor of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc, Tom Enders unveiled street signs on the campus bearing the names of a number of famous pioneers.

The aviators being honoured with street signs are Jacqueline Auriol (1917-2000), Amy Johnson (1903-1941), Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg (1903-1945) and José Ortiz-Echagüe (1886-1980). The Group also paid tribute to Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown (1919-2016), whose name adorns a restaurant on the campus. Several descendants of these aviation pioneers attended the inauguration event.

“Very few of our pioneers could have imagined in their lifetime that today our nations have come together to make things fly under one Airbus flag,” Enders said. “It is the passion and courage of such pioneers that has paved the way for Airbus. We wouldn’t be here celebrating the opening of our new campus without them. I pay a special tribute to these three female pilots and engineers. They not only remind us of our complex and diverse history but they also underline the key role women have played in the successful evolution of European aviation. We hope that their legacy also inspires more young women to join our industry.”

The opening of the new Campus concludes the Headquarters move that the Group had initiated in 2013. It led to the sale of sites at Munich (Unterschleißheim) and Paris (Montmorency), the proceeds of which were used to fully finance the new campus in Toulouse-Blagnac.

(Source: Airbus Group news release. Images courtesy of Airbus Group)

FMI: www.airbusgroup.com