Last Friday we went out for a guided tour in English through the Airbus plant in Finkenwerder (Island of the finches) located at the Lower Elbe.
We met at Landungsbrücken, the heart of the touristic part of Hamburg port where we took a ferry to Finkenwerder. The special feature of the this harbour ferry is that it forms part of the fare-collection joint venture between different transportation companies (HVV) so that the semester tickets and other public transport tickets are valid on the ferry as well.
Since the sky was bright and sunny lots of tourists were with us and we spent the crossing on the upper deck enjoying the sun and the wonderful Hamburg panorama. (Landungsbrücken-Tower, the cupola of the Old Elb-Tunnel, St. Michel Church, Elbphilharmonie and lots of (container) ships, a few of them really enormous. We even saw the favourite ship of the Hamburg people, Queen Mary II which currently stays for renovation works in Dock Elbe 17 at the shipyard "Blohm and Voss". It was a lot of fun since a few of us who stand a bit close to the bow got a slight shower due to the waves swell.
Once in Finkenwerder we got on the bus which brought us to the Airbus plant. It was a good idea to make a group photo in front of the Airbus plant entrance because inside it was strictly forbidden to take photos for high-security reasons.
Airbus Hamburg-Finkenwerder is the leading aircraft manufacturer in Europe and with 12.500 employees one of the most important employer in Hamburg. Our Canadian guide, Mr Chraplak, made of our visit an unforgettable and wonderful experience. Many thanks from all of us! After instructing us about the rules how to behave during the visit ("no photos or I'm dead", "don't move from the group" "there is always a bodyguard behind us" etc) he gave us an excellent insight in this amazing company. It was very instructive and entertaining. We learnt a lot about the aircraft families, the logistics and the final assembly in Finkenwerder. We visited a few hangars to take a closer look at the aircrafts. We even had the chance to see an aircraft 380 which was on the square outside in the term to be delivered right away to its customer.
What has our MathMods programme in common with Airbus?
Right: We are as international as Airbus is. Our students come from around the globe, Airbus is a global aircraft manufacturer with plants in France, Germany, Spain, England, the United States, China, Japan, India, the Middle East, Singapore, Miami ...
I think everyone enjoyed the visit. The photos after the visit speak for themselves.
Many thanks for joining us and for contributing to a wonderful experience!
