photo: AIRBUS Airbus marked 40th anniversary of its first aircraft delivery, an A300B2 airliner version to Air France on 10 May 1974. ...
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| photo: AIRBUS |
The 270 seat A300 was the world’s first twin-engined widebody commercial aircraft when the industry-accepted standard was three or four engines.
Airbus A300 was a very advanced plane of its time and influenced later subsonic airliner designs. It featured extensive use of composites, glass cockpit flight instruments, center-of-gravity control by shifting around fuel, and supercritical airfoil section wings.
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| photo: AIRBUS |
The A300B2 was followed by the increased-range A300B4, along with the A310-200 and extended-range A310-300 – shortened fuselage versions of the A300 that introduced two-man crew operations.
Starting in 1974, 878 A300/A310 Family aircraft have been manufactured by Airbus, with over 400 of these still in service with 65 customers.
