Airbus temporarily transfers delivery site to Toulouse due to local construction opposition

If you thought NIMBY's were only a problem in the United States, think again. Airbus has decided to move the delivery site for their new A380 super-jumbo airliners from Hamburg, Germany to Toulouse, France because local environmentalists and residents are opposing the construction of an extension to one of the runways. The extension is needed in order to handle the takeoff and landing test requirements of the new airliner.

"Deliveries will be organised from Toulouse for a limited period," Airbus Deutschland said in a statement. The company wants to the extend the Hamburg runway it intends to use by just under 2,000 feet to accommodate final pre-delivery tests.

The plans, however, have had a major wrench thrown into the works by environmentalists and residents. There's even a local church involved in the fray, because it is refusing to sell the land the airport requires to extend the runway. The fierce opposition from these groups could potentially threaten the A380 contract in Hamburg as well as many as 4,000 jobs.

Because of the high stakes and the possibility of losing thousands of jobs, Hamburg's Mayor Ole von Beust has decided to step into the fray and announce that measures were being taken by the local government to pave the way for expropriation of the land. Airbus in turned welcome von Beust's decision to take action, and added that the company was "keeping open the time window for the construction of the delivery centre until 2006."

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.ham.airport.de/index_en.phtml, http://international.hamburg.de/index/1,2709,JGdlbz0zJG9rPTE4MzM4JHVrPSQ_,00.html