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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2217.PDF
COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT •jirmm?iiiiHid 1 Rood Point Maurice Bellonte, Blagnac Cedex F-31707, France; tel: +33 61 93 33 33; fax: +33 61 93 37 92 telex: 530526 FAIRBU. A300 Airbus Industrie's first product (the 250-seat A300) was launched in May 1969, and had its first flight from Toulouse, France, in October 1972. The first production A300 variant, the -B2, entered service in May 1974. The -B4 growth-weight version followed, while several F4 and C4 versions were completed with main- deck cargo doors. Two slightly smaller B1 s were built, only one of which was delivered. An advanced-technology, two-crew EFIS- flightdeck-equipped version, the A300-600, was launched in 1980. The aircraft entered ser vice in March 1984. The A300-600 used the A310's rear fuselage and tailsection, boosting passenger and cargo capacity slightly. From the mid-1980s, the new version superseded the original A300B models, of which 250 were built. The current production A300, the -600R, entered service in 1988. This version has increased fuel capacity, heavier weights and extended-range capability. The A300-600F pure freighter was first flown in December 1993, following an order from FedEx. The majority (70%) of the outstanding orders for the A300 are held by FedEx for the freighter version, while the passenger-aircraft orders are mainly from Asian carriers. British Aerospace Aviation Services and Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Airbus offer freighter-conversion programmes for the A300. The BAe programme received its FAA supplemental type certificate in June 1997. Approval for the Dasa modification is expected to be given soon. Production Final assembly of the A300-600 is integrated with that of the A310, and is under taken bv Aerospatiale at Toulouse. Some 16 A300/A310s were delivered in 1996, and the combined production rate is running at fewer than ten units a year, with the majority being the A300. With the A300/A310 backlog gradually shrinking (24 aircraft by August 1997), Airbus revealed in February that production will now be undertaken on a build-to-order basis. Ordered 488 Delivered 464 A310 A short-fuselage, rewinged derivative of the A300, the A310 was launched in July 1978 and entered service with Lufthansa and Swissair in April 1983. The current production version, the -300, has increased weight and fuel capacity, offering longer range. The A310, and its larger sister the A300, do not share strong commonality links with the fly- by-wire (FBW) A320 family and A3 30/A340 in the Airbus product line. While no plans have been revealed to incorporate systems from the FBW models into the A300/A310, the consor tium has indicated that future A310 develop ments could include the aircraft being Korean Air is a major Airbus widebody customer, with a large fleet of A 300s and A 3 30s (above) optimised for the 200-seat regional market, rather than the long-range sector for which it has more recently been developed. Under the project name A310 Lite, Airbus has examined ways of reducing A310 operating costs by low ering gross weights and adopting lower-thrust engines, to enable it to be a more competitive alternative to Boeing's single-aisle 757. Airbus expects to continue building A310s for the foreseeable future, predicting that demand will".. .rise sharply later this decade as early Boeing 757s, 767s and A310s become due for replacement". Production see A3 00 Ordered 260 Delivered 254 A319/A320/A321 Airbus entered the single-aisle, sub-200-seat category in March 1984, with the launch of the 150-seat A320. The European consortium's family of single-aisle, fly-by-wire airliners now encompasses smaller and larger models, offer ing two-class seating capacity for between 124 and 185 passengers. The A320, which was the world's first sub sonic airliner to have a fly-by-wire FCS and some composite primary structures, had its first flight in February 1987 and entered service with Air France just over a year later. The initial ver sion was designated die A320-100, of which 21 were built. This was superseded by the A320- 200, now the standard production version, which has increased fuel capacity and higher weights. In 1989, Airbus launched a stretched deriva tive, the 185-seat A321, which entered service with Lufthansa in March 1994. While produc tion of the basic -100 version continues, an extended-range, increased-gross-weight ver sion, the A321 -200, is now offered. This model, which was launched in April 1995 by Aero Lloyd, is aimed at the holiday- charter market, and has increased weights (eg, MTOWto 89t), more-powerful engines and up to two auxiliary fuel tanks (ACTs) in the rear cargo hold. The first -200 delivery was made to Airworld/International Lease Finance in March 1997. Airbus is now offering further increases in wreight to up to 931MTOW, which boosts maximum range to 5,500km. The newest family member, the A319, seats 124 passengers, slotting in below the A320. This model was launched in June 1993 and entered service in May 1996 with Swissair. Growth ver sions of the basic 64t MTOW A319-100 are offered, with 68t, 70t and 75.5t versions avail able. At the Paris air show in June 1997, Airbus launched a corporate-jet (CJ) version of the A319 which, with up to seven ACTs, can carry- ten passengers over distances of 1 1,600km. First delivery of the CJ is due in 1999. A major selling point is that the A320 family shares a common type-rating and a cross-crew- qualification advantage, which extends to the widebodiedA330/A340. Production Final assembly of the Airbus nar- rowbodies is divided between the consortium's French and German partners. Aerospatiale builds the A320 at Toulouse, while assembly of the A319 and A321is undertaken at Hamburg by Dasa Airbus. During 1996, 72 A320-family aircraft were delivered, consisting of 38 A320s and 34 A319/A32 Is. Narrowbody production is being increased, and is set to reach almost 200 units a year by 1998. Dasa has made no secret of the fact that it wants to become Europe's centre of excellence for narrowbodied airliner production, and is FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 September 1997 33
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