Widebody Aircraft Parade

Airbus A300

The Airbus A300 is a widebody twin-engined aircraft for short and medium range flights, seating around 250-300 passengers. The aircraft was developed and built by Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aircraft manufacturers. Founders were Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus (MBB / DASA). Later, among others, CASA and British Aerospace joined Airbus Industrie.

The first flight was in October 1972 from Toulouse, where final production takes place. The first aircraft went into service in May 1974 with Air France. The sales had a rather slow start, mainly because of doubts about safety of such a big aircraft with only two engines. Today the A300 has a very good safety record. Almost 600 aircraft have been ordered. The A300 will stay in production until at least the year 2009. Airbus will mainly produce A300-600F freighters for cargo carriers including United Parcel Service (UPS). Today, many of the older aircraft are converted into cargo aircraft.

Of the A300 several main versions exist:

A300B1

This was the smallest version of the A300B. Only two aircraft were built.

A300B2

The first version to enter service was the A300B2. Only a small number was built.

A300B4

The heavier A300B4 became the standard production version. It was available with a maindeck cargo door, but only a few aircraft were built with this feature.

A300-600

The A300-600 was an improved derivative, which entered service in March 1984. Like the A310 it had a two-crew flightdeck and capacity was slightly increased by using the A310's rear fuselage and tail. The A300-600R offers increased fuel capacity, heavier weights and longer range. The A300-600F freighter is produced for package carriers like Federal Express and UPS. The A300-600R and A300-600F are the current production versions.

Technical Specifications

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A300 pictures

A300B4

Air Jamaica
Alitalia
Carnival Airlines
Dan-Air London
Onur Air

A300-600 / -600R

American Airlines
China Airlines
China Eastern
JAL / JAS
Korean Air
Kuwait Airways
Lufthansa
Qatar Airways

Technical Specifications

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