Airbus A300 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids A300
Libyan Arab Airlines A300B4-600R taking-off from Malta International Airport in 2002
Role	Wide-body jet airliner
National origin	Multi-national
Manufacturer	Airbus
First flight	28 October 1972
Introduction	30 May 1974 with Air France
Status	Out of production, in service
Primary users	FedEx Express UPS Airlines European Air Transport Mahan Air
Produced	1974–2007
Number built	561
Variants	Airbus A310
Developed into	Airbus A330 Airbus A340

The Airbus A300 is a large jet airliner made by a company called Airbus. It was a very important plane because it was the first "wide-body" aircraft with only two engines. A wide-body plane has more than one aisle between the seats.

Airbus started making the A300 in 1972. It can carry about 266 passengers. The A300 can fly up to 4,070 nautical miles (7,540 km) when it's full. This distance can change depending on the exact type of A300.

Air France was the first airline to use the A300. They started flying it on May 30, 1974. Airbus stopped making A300s in July 2007. The cargo (freighter) version of the A300 was later replaced by a newer plane, the A330-200F.

How the A300 Was Made

An American Airlines A300B4-605R landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York

Iran Air Airbus A300 landing at Mehrabad International Airport

A Lufthansa A300B4-603 taking off from London Heathrow Airport, England

In 1966, an airline called American Airlines wanted a new plane. They needed a plane with two engines that could hold 250 to 300 passengers. At that time, many American planes had three engines. This was because the FAA had rules that stopped two-engine planes from flying on some long routes.

In September 1967, the governments of Britain, France, and Germany decided to work together. They agreed to design a new plane called the Airbus A300. It was planned to have 300 seats.

Later, the French and British companies involved thought of a different plan. They designed a smaller plane with 250 seats, called the A250. This plane was later named the A300B. It was cheaper to build because it didn't need a brand new type of engine. To help sell the plane in the U.S., they decided to use American General Electric engines instead of British ones. The British government was not happy and stopped supporting the project. However, the British company Hawker Siddeley still helped by designing the wings for the A300.

The A300 flew for the first time in 1972. The first type, the A300B2, started being used by airlines in 1974. The A300B4 followed a year later. At first, Airbus didn't sell many planes. But by 1979, 81 A300s were flying. It was actually the A320 that later helped Airbus become a very big company.

Different parts of the A300 were made by many companies across Europe. These parts were flown to Toulouse-Blagnac in special Aero Spacelines Super Guppy aircraft. There, all the parts were put together to build the plane. This way of building planes turned out to be very good.

Design Features

Airbus A300 fuselage in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany

Mahan Air Airbus A300B4-600 landing at Birmingham International Airport, England

Some of the technology in the Airbus A300 came from the Concorde supersonic jet. When it first started flying in 1974, the A300 was a very modern plane. Some of its cool features included:

• Advanced wings designed by de Havilland.
• Parts made from strong metal pieces called billets, which made the plane lighter.
• Special systems to protect against sudden changes in wind, called wind shear.
• Autopilots that could fly the plane from the moment it took off until it landed.

Newer A300 planes had even more features, such as:

• A glass cockpit, which means the pilots see information on computer screens instead of old-fashioned dials.
• The ability to move fuel around inside the plane. This helps balance the plane's centre of gravity during flight.
• Small upward-pointing parts on the wingtips called Wingtip fences. These were first used on the A310-300.

History of Sales

Air France A300B2 at Farnborough Airshow in 1974

The A300 didn't sell very well at first. Most of the early orders were from airlines in the countries that helped build Airbus. These included airlines like Air France and Lufthansa.

In 1974, Korean Air ordered four A300s. This was a big deal because they were the first airline outside of Europe to buy an Airbus plane. Airbus believed that South-East Asia was an important place to sell planes. They saw Korean Air as the key to selling more planes in that area.

Airlines that used the A300 for shorter flights faced a problem. They had to fly less often to make sure the planes were full. This meant they lost customers to other airlines that used smaller planes and had more frequent flights. Because of this, Airbus later had to create the A320 to compete with planes like the Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9.

In 1977, Eastern Air Lines rented four A300s. Frank Borman, the boss of Eastern, was very happy. He found that the A300 used much less fuel than his airline's other planes. He then ordered 23 more A300s! After this, Pan Am also ordered some. From then on, many A300s were sold, with a total of 561 planes delivered to airlines.

The basic design of the A300 was used to create other planes. It was made longer for the A330 and A340. It was made shorter for the A310. It was also changed a lot to create the very unique A300-600ST Beluga Super Transporter, which carries large aircraft parts.

In March 2006, Airbus announced they would stop making the A300 and A310. The very last A300 flew for the first time on April 18, 2007. It was given to FedEx on July 12, 2007.

Different Types of Airbus A300

The ZERO-G A300 at Cologne Bonn Airport, Germany.

Airbus A300B4-200 of Singapore Airlines at the Farnborough Airshow in 1980.

A300B1

Only two of these planes were ever built. One was the very first test plane, called a prototype. The other was a second aircraft. This type could hold 300 to 323 passengers. It used two General Electric CF6-50A engines.

A300B2

This was the first version of the A300 that airlines actually used. It could have either General Electric CF6 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines. Air France was the first airline to use it in May 1974.

A300B4

This was the most common version of the A300 built. The first A300B4 flew on December 25, 1974. Germanair was the first airline to get one on May 23, 1975.

A300-600

The official name for this type is the A300B4-600. It has stronger CF6-80 or Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines. It also has a special small engine called an auxiliary power unit (APU) from Honeywell. The A300-600 started being used in 1983 by Saudi Arabian Airlines. This version also had a more modern cockpit, similar to the A310. This meant it only needed two pilots, and a third crew member called a flight engineer was no longer needed.

A300B10 (A310)

This type is a shorter version of the A300. Like the A300-600, it also doesn't need a flight engineer. The A310 can also be used as a military plane. The Canadian Forces and German Air Force use it today. Airbus sold 260 of these planes.

Accidents

As of 2010, the A300 has been in 54 accidents. In 26 of these, the plane was completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair. This is called a "hull-loss" accident. Sadly, 1,434 people have died in A300 accidents.

Aircraft Still Flying

As of July 2020, more than 200 Airbus A300 planes are still flying around the world.

Details

Related pages

Aircraft related to this one

• Airbus A310
• Airbus A330
• Airbus A340

Similar aircraft

• Boeing 767
• McDonnell Douglas DC-10

Images for kids

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  In 1966, Hawker Siddeley, Nord Aviation, and Breguet Aviation proposed the 260-seat wide-body HBN 100 with a similar design.

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  Technical director Roger Béteille discussing with general manager Henri Ziegler beside the CF6 turbofan engine, which powered the A300's first flight.

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  An A300 in its old Airbus paint scheme. It was first shown on September 28, 1972.

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  The A300's first flight on October 28, 1972.

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  The A300 is a normal low wing aircraft with two engines under its wings and a standard tail.

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  The early A300 cockpit with old-style dials and a station for a flight engineer (not shown).

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  Air France started using the A300 on May 23, 1974.

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  Korean Air was the first customer outside Europe to buy the A300 in September 1974.

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  Eastern Air Lines brought the A300 to the U.S. market in 1977.

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  On July 12, 2007, the last A300, a freighter, was delivered to FedEx Express. As of May 2022, FedEx is the biggest operator with 65 A300s still flying.

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  The two A300B1 test planes were 167 ft (51 m) long.

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  The A300B2 was 53.6 m (176 ft) long, 2.6 m (8.5 ft) longer than the A300B1.

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  The A300B4-100 first flew on December 26, 1974. It was the same length as the B2 but could carry more fuel.

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  With small wingtip fences, the A300-600 started service in June 1984 with Saudi Arabian Airlines.

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  The A300-600 shared its modern two-pilot cockpit with the A310 (pictured above).

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  The longer-range Airbus A310, which is 7 m (23 ft) shorter, was introduced by Swissair in April 1983.

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  The Airbus Beluga is based on the A300, but it has a huge cargo area on top to carry large parts.

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  The tail part of American Airlines Flight 587.

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  The front part of UPS Flight 1354, which crashed in August 2013.

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  An Airbus A300B4 painted to look like the very first A300B1 test plane, including its original registration F-WUAB.

See also

In Spanish: Airbus A300 para niños