Auctioneer Marc Labarde in charge of the auction of parts for an Airbus A380, on October 13, 2022 in Toulouse (AFP / Charly TRIBALLEAU)
Seats, windows, cabin access door, cockpit elements: more than 500 parts from an Airbus A380, the largest airliner in the world, are sold at auction in Toulouse.
The sales, from Thursday to Saturday, will attract up to “500 people” from all over the world, Marc Labarbe, auctioneer in charge of the sale, told AFP.
“There are 50 countries connected remotely on sale, so you see that it works, it speaks the A380”, he rejoices. Among the customers registered online, Americans, Europeans or even Nepalese or Armenians.
“The A380 is a legendary aircraft, which makes you dream” and which “marked its time”, explains Anne Galabert, Airbus communications director, behind the sale.
Auction of parts from an Airbus A380, on October 13, 2022 in Toulouse (AFP / Charly TRIBALLEAU)
The parts, taken from an A380 MSN 13 operated by the Emirates airline and dismantled in 2021, are of interest to aviation lovers, nostalgics who have worked for Airbus and art lovers, because some parts have been revisited by “street-artists”.
Charles Koeck, 69, a retired aeronautical engineer, was one of the few interested in being present in the auction room. This former Airbus Defense and Space wanted to acquire “souvenirs” that could fit into an apartment to offer them to his eldest son, also an engineer for Airbus, and having “worked for a long time on the A380”.
But others, like Benoît Dumay, 46, were interested in larger pieces. The designer architect thus left with several pieces including fuselage side panels, acquired at 1,500 euros to make works of art.
Auction of parts of an Airbus A380, October 13, 2022 in Toulouse (AFP / Charly TRIBALLEAU)
Of the 380 lots put up for sale, the majority of the pieces were estimated at a few hundred euros, but certain imposing elements, like a business class bar or an access door to the cabin, benefited an estimate of several thousand or tens of thousands of euros.
And their prices “could soar”, warns the auctioneer.
The profits from the sale will be donated to the Airbus Foundation to finance humanitarian missions, as well as to the AIRitage association which works to safeguard aeronautical heritage.
© 2022 AFP
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