Airbus Commercial Aircraft

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Airbus Commercial Aircraft, formally Airbus S.A.S.[citation needed], is the division of Airbus SE that designs, manufactures and sells commercial aeroplanes.

History[]

Main article: History of Airbus

Products[]

The Airbus A380, the world's largest airliner

The Airbus product line started with the A300 in 1972, the world's first twin-aisle, twin-engined aircraft. A shorter, re-winged, re-engined variant of the A300 is known as the A310.

Building on its success, Airbus launched the A320, the first commercial jet to use a digital fly-by-wire control system. The A320 has been, and continues to be, a major commercial success. The A318 and A319 are shorter derivatives with some of the latter under construction for the corporate business jet market as Airbus Corporate Jets. A stretched version is known as the A321. The A320 family's primary competitor is the Boeing 737 family.[1]

The longer-range widebody products— the twin-jet A330 and the four-engine A340— have efficient wings, enhanced by winglets. The Airbus A340-500 has an operating range of 16,700 kilometres (9,000 nmi), the second longest range of any commercial jet after the Boeing 777-200LR (range of 17,446 km or 9,420 nautical miles).[2]

All Airbus aircraft developed since then have cockpit systems similar to the A320, making it easier to train crew. Production of the four-engine A340 was ended in 2011 due to lack of sales compared to its twin-engine counterparts, such as the Boeing 777.[3]

Airbus is studying a replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed NSR, for "New Short-Range aircraft".[4][5] Those studies indicated a maximum fuel efficiency gain of 9–10% for the NSR. Airbus however opted to enhance the existing A320 design using new winglets and working on aerodynamical improvements.[6] This "A320 Enhanced" should have a fuel efficiency improvement of around 4–5%, shifting the launch of an A320 replacement to 2017–2018.

On 24 September 2009, the COO Fabrice Bregier stated to Le Figaro that the company would need from €800 million to €1 billion over six years to develop the new aircraft generation and preserve the company technological lead from new competitors like the Chinese Comac C919,[7] scheduled to operate by 2015–2020.[8]

In July 2007, Airbus delivered its last A300 to FedEx, marking the end of the A300/A310 production line. Airbus intends to relocate Toulouse A320 final assembly activity to Hamburg, and A350/A380 production in the opposite direction as part of its Power8 organisation plan begun under ex-CEO Christian Streiff.[9]

Airbus supplied replacement parts and service for Concorde until its retirement in 2003.[10][11]

Product list and details (date information from Airbus)
Aircraft Description Seats Max 1st flight Production ceased
A220 2 engines, single aisle, originally Bombardier CSeries 108–130 133–160 2013-09-16
A300 2 engines, twin aisle 228–254 361 1972-10-28 2007-03-27 (561 built)
A310 2 engines, twin aisle, modified A300 187 279 1982-04-03 2007-03-27 (255 built)
A318 2 engines, single aisle, shortened 6.17 m from A320 107 132 2002-01-15 2013-12-31 (80 built)
A319 2 engines, single aisle, shortened 3.77 m from A320 124 156 1995-08-25
A320 2 engines, single aisle 150 186 1987-02-22
A321 2 engines, single aisle, lengthened 6.94 m from A320 185 240 1993-03-11
A330 2 engines, twin aisle 246–300 406–440 1992-11-02
A340 4 engines, twin aisle 239–380 380–440 1991-10-25 2011-11-10 (377 built)[3]
A350 2 engines, twin aisle 270–350 475 2013-06-14
A380 4 engines, double deck, twin aisle 555 853 2005-04-27 2021 (planned)[12]
VIP aircraft Airbus A330 of Qatar Amiri Flight taxiing on Zagreb airport

Airbus Corporate Jets markets and modifies new aircraft for private and corporate customers. It has a model range that parallels the commercial aircraft offered by the company, ranging from the A318 Elite to the double-deck Airbus A380 Prestige. Following the entry of the 737 based Boeing Business Jet, Airbus joined the business jet market with the A319 Corporate Jet in 1997. Although the term Airbus Corporate jet was initially used only for the A319CJ, it is now often used for all models, including the VIP widebodies. As of December 2008, 121 corporate and private jets are operating, 164 aircraft have been ordered, including an A380 Prestige and 107 A320 family Corporate Jet.[13]

In September 2014, Aerion partnered with Airbus (mainly Airbus Defence)[14] to collaborate on designing the Aerion AS2, a supersonic 11-seater private business jet, hoping for a market entry in 2021.[15] Airbus was replaced with Lockheed Martin in 2017.[16]

Orders and deliveries[]

Aircraft Orders Deliveries In operation Unfilled
A220 658 111 111 547
A300 561 561 235 —
A310 255 255 65 —
A320ceo* 8,127 8,065 7,602 62
A320neo* 7,395 1,248 1,248 6,147
A330ceo* 1,486 1,449 1,394 37
A330neo* 337 46 46 291
A340* 377 377 236 —
A350* 935 358 358 577
A380 251 242 240 9
Total 20,382 12,712 11,535 7,670

* All models included.

Data as of 29 February 2020.[17]

References[]

  1. ^ Stevenson, Richard (21 March 1993). "A321 set for takeoff at Airbus Question of subsidies, threat to U.S. companies rise". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ^ "Simon Calder: The man who pays his way". The Independent. UK. 18 October 2003. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Ostrower, John (10 November 2011). "EADS indicates "termination" of Airbus A340 programme". Flightglobal. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Airbus may not do A320 replacement alone". Aviation Week. 2 July 2007.
  5. ^ "The 737 Story: Smoke and mirrors obscure 737 and Airbus A320 replacement studies". Flight International. 7 February 2006. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  6. ^ "Airbus aims to thwart Boeing's narrowbody plans with upgraded 'A320 Enhanced'". Flight International. 20 June 2006.
  7. ^ "China names first jumbo jet C919, to take off in 8 years". Xinhua News Agency. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2009.
  8. ^ "Airbus needs extra cash for new planes". Reuters. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Airbus to base A320 production in Hamburg, 350s and 380s in Toulouse". Forbes. 15 January 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007.
  10. ^ Webster, Ben (1 May 2003). "BA chief blames French for killing off Concorde". The Times. UK.
  11. ^ Woodman, Peter (10 April 2003). "End of an era – Concorde is retired". The Independent. UK.
  12. ^ Jethro Mullen and Charles Riley. "End of the superjumbo: Airbus is giving up on the A380". CNN. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  13. ^ "Airbus Executive and Private Aviation". airbus.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Airbus Group teams up with Aerion" Leeham Co, 27 October 2014. Accessed: 26 September 2014.
  15. ^ Van Wagenen, Juliet. "Airbus and Aerion Collaborate to Develop Supersonic Business Jet, High-Performance Flight" , 22 September 2014. Accessed: 27 October 2014.
  16. ^ "Lockheed Martin Becomes Newest Partner for Aerion’s Supersonic BizJet"
  17. ^ "Airbus official O&D". www.airbus.com. Airbus. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.

External links[]

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