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ABOUT AIRBUS GROUP
Airbus Group is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2014, the Group, which is comprised of three divisions - Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters - generated revenues of [euro]60.7 Bn and employed a workforce of around 138,600 in 170 locations worldwide. Under the auspices of Airbus Group Innovations (AGI), our group-wide corporate research and technology network, we are conducting the research and development today that will result in commercially viable solutions tomorrow.
Figure 1.
Airbus A380. (© British Airways).
[Figure Omitted; See PDF]"I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning, or of the expectation of good results from any of the trials we heard of. So you will understand why I would not care to be a member of your society." Lord William Thomson Kelvin, replying to an invitation to join the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1896
Today in 2016, when one can barely look into the sky without seeing an aircraft, it is worth remembering that even some 30 years after the Royal Aeronautical Society's founding, some of the most enlightened minds of the day viewed the pursuit of air travel as mere folly. The progress in aviation made in the 20thcentury not only belies the dire predictions of 'aerosceptics' of the 1800s such as Lord Kelvin, but it also demonstrates the unimaginable speed of our advancement.
The power of innovation has taken us to the air, the stratosphere, Earth's orbit, the moon, the other planets, the outer reaches of our solar system, and beyond. A rapid-fire succession of technological 'firsts' - the like of which had never been seen before - has propelled humankind forward at a dizzying speed. From the Wright Brothers' first flight in 1903 to the Rosetta Mission's successful November 2014 landing of the Philae lander on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko - which was moving at speed of 135,000 km per hour - humankind has gone further and faster than many ever thought possible.
None of this astonishing progress would have been possible without the international collaboration and global community originally fostered by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). As an engineer myself, I can attest to the fact that this spirit of...