The ultimate classic Airbus
The 1960s saw the Americans tighten their grip on the civil aviation market. In 1967, the UK, France and West Germany began to fight back, forming Airbus Industries. Although the UK left the project in 1969, Hawker Siddeley stayed on to produce the wings for the new upcoming Airbus A300 and just five years after it was formed, the company launched its first aircraft.
The A300 was a winner. The wide-body design and good range were mixed with modern technologies, like the all-composite material tail, which put the A300 on the cutting-edge of 1970s technology and customers loved it. Its twin-engine design proved to be more efficient than the tri-jets of the day and the A300 would make history as the first twin jet to meet Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) requirements, opening up the North Atlantic routes and beginning the downfall for tri-jets in the process.
