Plane spotting in Toulouse-Blagnac: Airbus test flights, deliveries and spots

An A350 in the colors of an Asian airline floats in over the fields of Blagnac with a test registration, a few minutes later an Air France A320 taxis to the runway on the parallel strip, and behind the hill a tug pushes a freshly painted A321neo to the Delivery Center. Anyone planning plane spotting in Toulouse isn’t just visiting another airport but the heart of Airbus. This guide shows you what gets built at Blagnac, which runway is used for what, where you can stand legally and how to avoid missing the best movements.

Toulouse-Blagnac: the short answer

Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (IATA TLS, ICAO LFBO) lies about seven kilometers northwest of the city center and is two things at once: a commercial airport with most recently just over 7.6 million passengers a year and the most important factory airfield of Airbus. On the west side, final assembly halls, paint shops and the Delivery Center sit in a row, and to the south ATR builds its turboprops. Takeoffs and landings use two parallel runways running northwest–southeast.

You spot from the outside: from the hill on Avenue Latécoère, from pull-offs at the runway ends, from paths and roads around the fence. Unlike at the Airbus plant in Finkenwerder, though, you don’t just get a handful of factory movements here but the complete scheduled traffic as well. Even on a quiet Airbus day, your camera won’t go home empty.

What gets built in Toulouse

According to Airbus, Toulouse is the manufacturer’s largest industrial site in France. Final assembly of several programs comes together around the airport, and for spotters each of them is a chapter of its own.

A350: The final assembly line for the long-haul jet opened in October 2012 and is named after Airbus co-founder Roger Béteille. It sits right at the airport. The A350-900 and A350-1000 are built here, plus the freighter program, the A350F. For you, that means widebodies in customer liveries that you see in this density at hardly any other airport in Europe.

A330: The A330-900 and the rarer A330-800 are also assembled in Toulouse. Occasionally there are also tanker versions like the A330 MRTT, which get their base aircraft in Toulouse and are then converted in Spain – they are correspondingly rare.

A320 Family: The former A380 hall “Jean-Luc Lagardère” has housed a modernized final assembly line for the A320 Family since 2023, and according to industry reports a second one was added in June 2026. Both are geared mainly toward the A321neo, so also toward long-range variants like the A321XLR. Worldwide, Airbus thus operates ten lines for the family: four in Hamburg, two each in Toulouse, Mobile and Tianjin.

A380 – a closed chapter: The superjumbo took off on its first flight in Toulouse in 2005 and was assembled here until production ended in 2021. You won’t see new A380s anymore. One example stands at Aeroscopia today, more on that below.

ATR: The turboprop manufacturer also builds its ATR 72-600 and ATR 42-600 in Toulouse. Test flights and deliveries use the same runway as Airbus – a customer turboprop from the Pacific or South America is no rarity at Blagnac.

Historic ground

Hardly any airport has seen so many first flights. The French Concorde took off on its maiden flight from Toulouse in 1969, and Airbus programs from the A300 to the A350 followed. If you’re interested in the backstory, the article The history of the Concorde has the background on the supersonic jet that now stands in the museum at Blagnac.

What you see in the sky

The traffic at Toulouse can be roughly divided into five groups. Each has its own patterns and its own traces in tracking.

Traffic type	Typical patterns	How to recognize it
Test flights	A350, A330neo, A321neo, ATR	Takeoff and landing at Toulouse, often traffic patterns or multi-hour flights without a real destination, test registrations
Deliveries	the same types after handover	Final registration of the customer’s country, airline callsign, destination is the home base
Beluga transports	BelugaXL	Whale hump, shuttle routes between the European Airbus plants
Scheduled traffic	A319, A320, A321, Boeing 737, regional jets	Air France, easyJet, Volotea, Ryanair and many other airlines
Night freight	Integrator freighters	Night flights, early-morning landings

Test flights and customer liveries

Before an aircraft goes to its customer, it goes through ground tests and test flights. Some already fly in full airline livery, others wear neutral white or only parts of the design. In between, Airbus’s company aircraft and house liveries turn up – what that is all about is explained in the article House liveries of Airbus, Boeing and Embraer.

Watch the registration. During testing, new-builds usually fly with French test registrations in the F-W range, and only at handover does the aircraft switch to the registration of the customer’s country. How the system works is explained in Manufacturer test registrations, and you can read the country prefixes with Aircraft country codes. A photo of the same aircraft with its test registration and with its customer registration makes a nice collector’s pair.

Delivery Center and deliveries

In front of the delivery center on the west side, aircraft whose handover is imminent are parked. Airbus names one of its delivery centers in Toulouse after Henri Ziegler, another founding father of the company. If you want to catch a delivery live, the guide Tracking delivery and ferry flights has the right method.

Beluga over the Garonne

The BelugaXL carries fuselage sections, wings and tail sections between the European plants and Toulouse. The older A300-600ST Beluga has by now been largely displaced from internal factory traffic. Spotter guides report that Belugas fly even on public holidays when the rest of the plant is at rest.

The runways: who flies where

Blagnac has two parallel runways. The western 14R/32L is the longer one at around 3,500 meters and lies right next to the Airbus facilities. It is used for test and delivery flights by Airbus and ATR. The eastern 14L/32R measures just over 3,000 meters and serves mainly scheduled and freight traffic, with air traffic control distributing landings across both runways depending on the situation.

The numbers on the runways tell you the direction: 14 stands for about 140 degrees, so southeast, and 32 for about 320 degrees, so northwest. Which direction is active is decided by the wind. In Toulouse, westerly to northwesterly winds alternate with the Autan, an often strong southeasterly wind of the region. So expect both runway directions and check the wind forecast beforehand. How the principle works is explained in Understanding runway direction in use, and with Windy and other weather maps you can tell the evening before which runway direction awaits you.

The locations: where you can stand legally

There is a whole series of public locations around the airport. The information below comes from spotter guides and field reports, as of fall 2025. In Toulouse especially, fences, pull-offs and access roads keep changing – check current reports before you set out.

Location	Position	Good for	Light according to spotter guides
Spotter hill	West side, Avenue Latécoère	Landings 14R/32L, line-ups on the parallel runway, tows, Delivery Center	from midday to sunset
Delivery Center pull-off	West side, Avenue Latécoère	parked new-builds, tows	afternoon to evening
Approach 14R	Northwest end, roadside	Approaches to 14R, especially ATR	from midday
Line-up 14R	Northeast side, former taxiway	Movements on 14R	sunrise to midday
Runway end 32L/32R	South end	Landings on 32L and 32R	morning or afternoon depending on the location
Terminal restaurant	South part of the terminal, landside	Runway operations, rows of Airbus aircraft on the opposite side	varies, through glass

The spotter hill on Avenue Latécoère

The best-known location is on the west side between the Airbus grounds and the northwest end of 14R. From above you overlook the Airbus runway, the line-ups on the parallel runway, tows out of the paint shop and the Delivery Center. For a long time the hill was reachable only on foot; according to an update from October 2025, it can now be used as a parking area. After rain the ground can be muddy, and on hot days the air shimmers over the asphalt. Spotter guides mention focal lengths up to about 400 millimeters; for widebodies on the runway, less is often enough. Which lenses prove their worth is summed up in Lens and focal length for plane spotting.

Delivery Center and approach 14R

A little further along Avenue Latécoère there’s a pull-off with a view of the parked new-builds. According to a spotter guide, parking isn’t allowed there, but stopping briefly is. It’s safer to park at the hill and walk. For a clear view over the fence you need a small step. Further northwest, also at the roadside, aircraft on approach to 14R pass by – smaller types like ATRs fill the frame especially well here.

Line-up spots on the east side

If you want morning light, switch to the east side. A former taxiway on the Route de Toulouse now serves as a pull-off and looks onto the takeoffs from 14R. There is also a well-known location at the 14L line-up. Both have a catch: according to a spotter guide, the fence was replaced with a taller metal fence in August 2025, and a step is no longer enough there. At the 14L spot, spotters also report signs about restricted access and that security occasionally sends people away. What applies on the topic of ladders is covered in Ladder, step and tripod at the airport fence.

In the south: approaches to 32

In northwest operations, aircraft land from the south. At the southern runway ends there are parking areas and paths with a view of approaches to 32L and 32R. According to more recent comments, several pull-offs are now restricted by walls, fences or gates. A meadow on the Route de Bayonne works for landings on 32L in the morning, according to a spotter guide, with trees for shade and a supermarket nearby.

In the terminal

There is no longer an observation deck. In the south part of the terminal, though, you can sit landside in a restaurant overlooking runway operations – and the rows of Airbus aircraft on the opposite side, which are hard to see from outside. That is worthwhile mainly in bad weather or to warm up.

Light and time of day

Because the runways run from northwest to southeast, the side determines the time window. On the west side you look east, so the sun is behind you from midday – exactly the window spotter guides name for the hill and Avenue Latécoère. On the east side it’s the other way around: there, morning is the right time. A good spotting day in Toulouse therefore starts in the east and ends in the west.

In summer the sun stands high in southern France, and the air shimmers over the asphalt quickly. Spotter guides therefore recommend spring and fall as the best time to travel. How to calculate the light window for each location yourself is shown in Planning the sun position.

Timing: weekdays, summer break, holidays

The factory side has its own rhythm, and it matters more for your planning than the flight schedule.

How to spot factory and first flights on the radar is shown in Tracking test and factory flights. You set up notifications for particular types following Setting up flight tracking alerts, and you can find a specific aircraft with Tracking an aircraft by registration.

Scheduled traffic

Even without Airbus, Toulouse would be a decent spot. Air France connects the city closely with Paris and other destinations, joined by low-cost carriers like easyJet, Volotea and Ryanair, for which Toulouse is an important base. Network airlines from all over Europe and North Africa round out the picture, and freighters of big integrators land at night. Compared with Paris-Charles de Gaulle, the traffic is manageable, but the mix of scheduled operations and factory traffic makes Blagnac unique.

Aeroscopia and factory tours

Right next to the Airbus grounds in Blagnac is the aviation museum Aeroscopia. In a hall of around 8,000 square meters and on the outdoor grounds stand over 40 aircraft, including two Concordes, a Super Guppy you can walk into, a Caravelle, an A300B with a glass fuselage section and an A380. Also interesting for spotters is the spot at the museum itself – details are on the page Aeroscopia at Toulouse-Blagnac.

The Airbus factory tours, organized by the operator Manatour, also start at the museum. Depending on the program, you travel by bus across the grounds and to the assembly halls. Photography is not allowed on the factory grounds, but binoculars and a notebook for registrations are. Book in advance and check the ID rules with the provider beforehand. What generally awaits you on such tours is described in Airport tour and apron bus ride.

Getting there and infrastructure

Shuttle buses run to the terminal from the city center and from Matabiau station. The spots at the fence are scattered around a large site, though, and all the usual spotter guides recommend a rental car. A full lap around the airport on foot takes several hours. Supermarkets, gas stations and fast-food restaurants are plentiful in Blagnac and on the arterial roads, and you’ll find restrooms in the terminal or in shops. Hotels of every category lie around the airport.

Is an extension worthwhile? In the southwest of the city lies a second airfield, Toulouse-Francazal, a former military base that is now used mainly by business and general aviation. If you’re planning a bigger tour, you’ll find more destinations in Plane spotting road trip through Europe and The best plane spotting spots in Europe.

What to keep in mind

• Public areas only: Factory gates, access roads and employee parking lots are not spotter territory. Park only where you obstruct nobody.
• No drones: Over an airport with factory operations, that’s taboo, see Drones at airports.
• Stay calm during checks: A big telephoto lens at the fence raises questions. How to avoid misunderstandings is covered in Big telephoto lens, big suspicion.
• Heat and sun: Water, sun protection and a hat belong in your bag almost all year in the south of France, see Gear checklist.
• Putting rarities in context: How to rate customer liveries, test registrations and transporters is shown in How rare is my sighting?.

Conclusion

For Airbus fans, Toulouse-Blagnac is what Everett is for Boeing fans: the place where the aircraft are born. Factory-fresh A350s and A330neos in customer colors, A321neos from the former A380 hall, ATR turboprops, test registrations and the BelugaXL meet perfectly normal scheduled operations here. If you come on a weekday, stand in the east in the morning and on the hill in the afternoon, know the wind direction and keep an eye on tracking, you’ll take home pictures from Blagnac that no other airport in Europe delivers.