Aircraft

Airbus expects to be assisting A300/A310 operators for another 35 years as its product support department transitions to an "in-service only" mode for the first time in its history, following the delivery of the last A300 earlier this month.

"This will be the first time that we've continued to support the aircraft without a production organisation inside Airbus," says Doug Carlile, A300/A310 programme director customer services.

Airbus delivered 816 A300/A310s between 1974 and 2007 and over 640 of the twinjets remain in service with more than 80 operators worldwide.

The last aircraft, an A300-600F, was handed over to FedEx Express during a ceremony in Toulouse on 12 July that also featured an A300 painted up as the original A300B1 prototype.

Although the A300/A310 fleet will gradually decline Carlile says the airframer could be supporting the twinjets until 2050: "Airbus has been running a project called long-term support, which uses the date of 2050 as a milestone," he says, speaking on a video about the closure of the A300/A310 line on the Airbus website.

"Although there are some forecasts that have aircraft in service until 2050, we'd expect 35 years would be about the normal length of service for the majority of the fleet."

Carlile says Airbus expects that more than 350 A300/A310s will be in service in 10 years' time, and more than 200 by around 2025. "We are learning how to keep the availability of spares and the knowledge.

"My overall objective is to make sure the customer satisfaction level is no different to the in-production Airbus types."