: 49–50 During the mid-1960s, both Air France and American Airlines had expressed interest in a short-haul twin-engine wide-body aircraft, indicating a market demand for such an aircraft to be produced. : 37–38 National governments were also keen to support such efforts amid a belief that American manufacturers could dominate the European Economic Community in particular, Germany had ambitions for a multinational airliner project to invigorate its aircraft industry, which had declined considerably following the Second World War. : 49 : 2–13Įuropean manufacturers were keen to explore prospective programmes the proposed 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 between Hawker Siddeley, Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation being one such example. To overcome this factor, the report recommended the pursuit of multinational collaborative projects between the region's leading aircraft manufacturers. In 1965, a British government study, known as the Plowden Report, had found British aircraft production costs to be between 10% and 20% higher than American counterparts due to shorter production runs, which was in part due to the fractured European market. While studies were performed and considered, such as a stretched twin-engine variant of the Hawker Siddeley Trident and an expanded development of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) One-Eleven, designated the BAC Two-Eleven, it was recognized that if each of the European manufacturers were to launch similar aircraft into the market at the same time, neither would achieve sales volume needed to make them viable. Production ceased in July 2007 after 561 deliveries.Īs of March 2023, there were 228 A300 family aircraft in commercial service.ĭevelopment Origins In 1966, Hawker Siddeley, Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation proposed the 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 with a similar configurationĭuring the 1960s, European aircraft manufacturers such as Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation, based in the UK, and Sud Aviation of France, had ambitions to build a new 200-seat airliner for the growing civil aviation market. It has a similar capacity to the Boeing 767-300, introduced in 1986, but lacked the 767-300ER range.ĭuring the 1990s, the A300 became popular with cargo aircraft operators, as both passenger airliner conversions and as original builds. Īfter limited demand initially, sales took off as the type was proven in early service, beginning three decades of steady orders. Launch customer Air France introduced the type on. It is also the basis for the oversize Beluga transport (1994). Its cross section was retained for the larger four-engined A340 (1991) and the larger twin-engined A330 (1992). The A300 is the basis of the smaller A310 (first flown in 1982) and was adapted in a freighter version. The improved A300-600 has a two-crew cockpit and updated CF6-80C2 or PW4000 engines it made its first flight on 8 July 1983 and entered service later that year. Initial variants are powered by General Electric CF6-50 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofans and have a three-crew flight deck. The first twin-engine widebody airliner, the A300 typically seats 247 passengers in two classes over a range of 5,375 to 7,500 km (2,900 to 4,050 nmi 3,340 to 4,660 mi). The A300 prototype first flew on 28 October 1972. The pan- European collaborative aerospace manufacturer Airbus Industrie was formally created on 18 December 1970 to develop and produce it. West Germany and France reached a firm agreement on, after the British withdrew from the project on 10 April 1969. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed an initial memorandum of understanding to collaborate to develop an innovative large airliner. The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first twin-engine, double-aisle (wide-body) airliner, developed and manufactured by Airbus from 1971–2007. In limited passenger service, In cargo service
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