Airbus A310 - the second big step. History and description

Video from the channel Skyships Eng about Airbus A310, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 6:45. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

An explainer piece from the Skyships channel, part of a series on Airbus, that explains why the manufacturer developed the A310 despite its strong resemblance to the A300, and reviews its development, versions and competitors.

The A300 had opted for two engines instead of the three or four used by other wide-body jets, which lowered operating costs but limited its range to about 7,500 km, below that of the American trijets. Variants such as the shortened-fuselage A300B10 kept an oversized wing that penalized weight and fuel consumption. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which had consolidated its industry into British Aerospace, watched as British Airways planned to buy the new Boeing 767. Britain's return to Airbus in 1978 coincided with the announcement of the A310: a shorter fuselage, a new, more efficient wing, carbon brakes and winglets.

Lufthansa and Swissair were the first customers, followed by Air France and Iberia. A -100 version for regional routes and a -200 for transcontinental flights were planned, with General Electric CF6 or Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines. The first flight came in 1982, with 181 orders from 15 airlines; the -100 was dropped and replaced by the longer-range -300. There were freighter versions as well as the military MRT and MRTT. The video highlights the systems' similarity to the A300-600R, the origin of the family's commonality, and presents the A330 as heir to the concept.