40 years of Butzbach hangar doors at Nuremberg Airport

The Butzbach company has been known for its translucent and lightweight panels made of glass fibre-reinforced polyester resin since 1976. The two company managers got to know and appreciate the material during their hobby of gliding. And Arnold Butzbach quickly came to the conclusion: ‘You have to be able to make something else out of this material than just aeroplanes’!

Butzbach was able to fulfil all of the airport’s requirements and produce a hangar door of the highest quality. Many parts, such as the drive, controls, rollers and guide rails, had to be redesigned for the hangar door.  Then as now, almost all components were produced in-house. Time was a major factor. After approx. 4 weeks of planning, the hangar door had to be manufactured within 4 weeks and after a further 4 weeks for assembly, the project was completed in 12 weeks. The customer was particularly impressed by the fact that the door can also be easily moved by hand if there is no electricity available.

The door installed in Nuremberg has not been replaced to date. After a few safety-related updates, it still fulfils its purpose today just as it did 40 years ago.

The project in Nuremberg was Butzbach’s entry into the special market for sliding door systems. It marked a significant milestone in the company’s history. Customers include airports, aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing, maintenance companies, the military and private aircraft owners. After Nuremberg, hangar doors in all sizes up to 200 metres wide and 30 metres high were supplied throughout Europe as well as to Asia, Africa and the Middle East With almost 1,000 hangar doors supplied, Butzbach is now the market leader in Europe!