March 2001 - Nr. 3
Airbus Gets Go-Ahead for Hamburg Expansion
TWIG - A Hamburg court cleared the way this week for Airbus to gear up for production of its new A380 super-jumbo jet. Airbus maintains a major production and assembly facility in Hamburg that it wants to expand for work on the A380. The Hamburg facility adjoins a protected wetland, and the planned expansion will require that roughly 350 acres of what is now marsh be filled in and built upon. Environmental groups opposed to the expansion succeeded late last year in securing a court order to halt construction work on the site. On Tuesday (February 20), Hamburg’s Superior Administrative Court overruled the lower court’s decision and lifted the ban on construction.
Pointing to the very welcome economic stimulus the A380 is
expected to provide the region, local officials of all political persuasion,
union leaders and representatives of the business community have come out
strongly in favor of allowing the expansion of the Airbus facility. Once the
A380 goes into production, Airbus is expected to add 4,000 new workers to
the roughly 7,000 already on its payroll in Hamburg. Lawyers for opponents
of the expansion say they are considering further legal action.
