Liebherr Aerospace

When you hear the name Liebherr, you probably think of yellow construction cranes or the refrigerator in your kitchen. Few people know that the same family-owned group has been building aircraft systems since 1960 – and yet every Airbus A350 you photograph at the fence rolls past you on a Liebherr nose gear. The aviation division has two hearts: the Allgäu town of Lindenberg for landing gear and flight control, and Toulouse for climate and air systems. This profile shows you what is made there and where you can find the technology again as a spotter.

From construction crane to nose gear

The story does not begin in aviation. In 1949, Hans Liebherr founded his company in Kirchdorf an der Iller, and the first big success was a mobile tower crane. Over the decades this grew into a group with construction machinery, mobile and harbor cranes, mining machinery, refrigeration appliances, components and even hotels. The parent company is now based in Bulle, Switzerland, and the whole is still run by the Liebherr family. In 2024, according to Wikipedia, the group reached around €14.6 billion in revenue and just under 55,000 employees.

The step into aviation followed in 1960 in Lindenberg im Allgäu, a small town in the western Allgäu that until then was known mainly for its hat industry. The beginning was down-to-earth work: overhauling landing gear and hydraulic parts for the young Bundeswehr and license production of spare parts. From this workshop, step by step, a development and manufacturing operation grew for complete landing gear, flight control and actuation systems, gearboxes and electronics.

In the early 1970s a second site was added – and not just anywhere, but in Toulouse, the city where final assembly of the first Airbus aircraft began shortly after. There Liebherr concentrated on air conditioning systems for aircraft. Today the Toulouse company Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS is the lead company of the entire division, while Lindenberg, with around 2,500 employees, is the larger manufacturing site.

What Liebherr Aerospace builds

Liebherr is a so-called Tier 1 supplier: The company doesn’t deliver individual screws but entire systems directly to the aircraft manufacturers. The division covers a broad spectrum – from airliners of all sizes through business jets and helicopters to military and training aircraft.

Landing gear is the best-known product. That includes not just the strut and wheels but the entire system of retraction mechanism, locking, nose wheel steering and sensors. Air management covers everything to do with air on board: taking bleed air from the engines and regulating it, air-conditioning and pressurizing the cabin, de-icing wing leading edges. Flight control and actuation means the actuators that move flaps, slats and other movable parts. Add gearboxes for aircraft, helicopters and engines as well as avionics hardware, such as power electronics and control units.

According to Wikipedia, EASA has granted both main sites their own design organization approval – so Lindenberg and Toulouse may develop their systems themselves and demonstrate them for certification, rather than just manufacturing to a blueprint. The business also includes a worldwide service network that overhauls landing gear and components for airlines.

Lindenberg: landing gear from the Allgäu

The Lindenberg plant is the industrial core of the division. According to Wikipedia, the site covers around 127,000 square meters, of which around 82,000 square meters are covered halls. Landing gear and landing gear systems, actuators for flight control, gearboxes and electronic assemblies are made here.

The best-known product for long-haul fans is probably the nose gear of the Airbus A350. The interesting part: The main gear of the same aircraft comes from a different manufacturer. On the A350-900 it is supplied by Safran, on the A350-1000 by today’s Collins Aerospace. So a single aircraft carries landing gear from two different manufacturers. In 2019, Liebherr also delivered its first 3D-printed production part for the A350 landing gear, a metal sensor bracket.

The landing gear of the Airbus A220, which Bombardier originally developed as the CSeries, comes entirely from Liebherr – this applies equally to the shorter A220-100. And Liebherr also developed the landing gear for the COMAC C919. It is made in China in a joint venture with a subsidiary of the state-owned aviation group AVIC – an example of how Western suppliers take part in Chinese aircraft construction. Liebherr is also represented at Embraer: According to Wikipedia, the E190’s landing gear comes from the group.

Folding wings and actuators

Besides landing gear, Lindenberg builds systems that move parts of the aircraft. The most spectacular example for spotters is the Boeing 777X: Its wings are so long that the tips are folded up on the ground so the aircraft fits ordinary gates. Liebherr supplies the actuation system of these folding wingtips.

If you see a 777X driving along the taxiway after landing, watch for the moment the wingtips swing upward – that is Liebherr technology in action. Delivery of the type to airlines has been delayed several times; whether and where you can currently see it in scheduled service is best checked shortly before your spotting day. How to tell the 777X from older variants and from the Dreamliner is explained in the article Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart.

The gearboxes also belong to Lindenberg. Together with Rolls-Royce, Liebherr runs the joint venture Aerospace Transmission Technologies, which develops the power gearbox for the UltraFan – an engine concept in which a gearbox lets the large fan turn more slowly than the turbine. Helicopter makers like Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo are also among the customers.

Toulouse: air for the cabin

The Toulouse site takes care of what you feel as a passenger but never see: the air on board. On most airliners, air is tapped from the engine compressor – so-called bleed air. It is hot and under high pressure. Valves, heat exchangers and air-conditioning units bring it to the right temperature and pressure before it flows into the cabin. Part of it is also used to keep the wing leading edges free of ice.

On the A220, Liebherr supplies the entire air management system including pneumatics, and on the C919 likewise the air management. Not every Airbus carries Toulouse climate technology, however: On the A350, for example, the air management system comes from Honeywell Aerospace. How the air supply on board works in detail is explained in the article on cabin air.

That Liebherr is based in Toulouse is no coincidence. The city is the center of Airbus, and Airbus is by far the most important customer: In 2015, according to Wikipedia, just under half of the division’s revenue went to the European aircraft maker. Short distances to development departments and final assembly lines are worth their weight in gold for a systems supplier.

Toulouse as a spotting destination

The Liebherr plants themselves are industrial sites, not visitor destinations. The city of Toulouse, by contrast, is one of Europe’s most exciting destinations for spotters. At Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, not only scheduled flights take off and land but also test aircraft, new deliveries and special visitors like the Beluga transporters. If you photograph A350 test aircraft there, you very likely have Liebherr technology in the picture too.

Right at the airport is the aviation museum Aeroscopia, whose surroundings are also suitable for photos of flight operations. What you see there and how to make the best use of the location is covered in the spot guide Aeroscopia at Toulouse-Blagnac. An overview of the whole city from a spotter’s perspective is given by the article Plane spotting at Toulouse-Blagnac.

Lindenberg and Lake Constance

The Allgäu plant is in the district of Lindau, not far from Lake Constance. There is no plane spotting in the classic sense in Lindenberg, but the region has a lot to offer aviation fans. Friedrichshafen Airport on the lake’s north shore is one of the nearest commercial airports and host of AERO Friedrichshafen, the big general aviation trade show. Right next to it, the Dornier Museum tells the story of another southern German aviation pioneer.

Further northeast lies Memmingen Airport, a popular low-cost airport. A Liebherr tour through the Allgäu with a detour to Lake Constance can therefore be combined well with a few hours at the fence.

Active worldwide

Besides Lindenberg and Toulouse, the division operates further sites, mainly for service and maintenance. According to Wikipedia, these include Campsas in France, Saline in the US state of Michigan, Laval in Canada, Guaratinguetá in Brazil, Dubai, Bangalore, Singapore and a maintenance center in Shanghai. In summer 2026, Liebherr began building a new site for Liebherr-Aerospace Technology in Shanghai – a sign of how important the Chinese market has become with the C919 and growing airline fleets.

The service business is about as significant for Liebherr as new production. Landing gear must be overhauled at fixed intervals, and airlines often award this work to the manufacturer. In September 2026, for example, Liebherr announced an agreement with China Airlines on the overhaul of A350 nose gear. For you that means: When an aircraft disappears from circulation for a few days, its landing gear may well be sitting in a Liebherr workshop.

More than aviation: rail

The division isn’t called Aerospace and Transportation Systems for nothing. Liebherr also uses the know-how from aircraft air conditioning for rail vehicles: The rail subsidiary supplies air conditioning as well as actuation and hydraulic systems for rail vehicles. If you take the train to your spotting spot, you may be sitting in a car whose air conditioning comes from the same corporate family as the cabin air of the A220.

Liebherr compared

In the market for aircraft systems, Liebherr competes with a small group of large suppliers that share many programs. In landing gear, Safran and Collins Aerospace are the most important competitors – all three are even involved in the A350 family. In air and climate systems, Honeywell Aerospace is the big counterpart, as is Collins with its Hamilton Sundstrand line.

What sets Liebherr apart from many competitors is its ownership structure. While Collins emerged from numerous mergers and Safran is listed on the stock exchange, Liebherr Aerospace belongs to a family-run group that has expanded its aviation division organically for over 60 years. For spotters this means above all one thing: The name stays stable, and the assignment of products is comparatively straightforward.

Conclusion

Liebherr Aerospace is one of those suppliers you don’t see but constantly have in front of your lens. From a repair shop for Bundeswehr landing gear in the Allgäu has grown a systems supplier that delivers landing gear, air systems, actuators and gearboxes to Airbus, Boeing, COMAC and others. Lindenberg and Toulouse share the work: mechanics here, air there.

For you as a spotter, it pays to look down. The A350’s nose gear, the A220’s complete landing gear and the folding wingtips of the 777X are Liebherr technology that you can actually get into the frame with a good telephoto lens. And the next time you pass a construction crane by the roadside, you will know that the same name also plays a role in aviation.