Editing Airbus A300 (section)

== Operational history ==
[[File:Airbus A300B2-101, Air France AN2111996.jpg|thumb|[[Air France]] introduced the A300 on 23 May 1974]]

On 23 May 1974, the first A300 to enter service performed the first commercial flight of the type, flying from Paris to London, for Air France.<ref name=Simons />{{rp|39}}<ref name="Champagne and Drought" />

Immediately after the launch, sales of the A300 were weak for some years, with most orders going to airlines that had an obligation to favor the domestically made product&nbsp;– notably Air France and Lufthansa, the first two airlines to place orders for the type.<ref name=Bowen />{{rp|50–52}}<ref name="Champagne and Drought" /> Following the appointment of Bernard Lathière as Henri Ziegler's replacement, an aggressive sales approach was adopted. [[Indian Airlines]] was the world's first domestic airline to purchase the A300, ordering three aircraft with three options. However, between December 1975 and May 1977, there were no sales for the type. During this period a number of "whitetail" A300s&nbsp;– completed but unsold aircraft&nbsp;– were completed and stored at Toulouse, and production fell to half an aircraft per month amid calls to pause production completely.<ref name="Champagne and Drought" />

[[File:KoreanAir A300 fukuoka 20051030110452.jpg|thumb|[[Korean Air]], the first non-European customer in September 1974]]

During the flight testing of the A300B2, Airbus held a series of talks with [[Korean Air]] on the topic of developing a longer-range version of the A300, which would become the A300B4. In September 1974, Korean Air placed an order for four A300B4s with options for two further aircraft; this sale was viewed as significant as it was the first non-European international airline to order Airbus aircraft. Airbus had viewed South-East Asia as a vital market that was ready to be opened up and believed Korean Air to be the 'key'.<ref name="airbus 30" /><ref name=NorWag />{{rp|23}}<ref name="Champagne and Drought">[http://www.airbus.com/company/history/the-narrative/champagneand-drought-1973-1977/ "Champagne&nbsp;... and drought (1973–1977)."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401100121/http://www.airbus.com/company/history/the-narrative/champagneand-drought-1973-1977/ |date=1 April 2015 }} ''Airbus'', Retrieved: 28 February 2016.</ref>

Airlines operating the A300 on short-haul routes were forced to reduce frequencies to try and fill the aircraft. As a result, they lost passengers to airlines operating more frequent narrow-body flights. Eventually, Airbus had to build its own narrowbody aircraft (the [[Airbus A320 family|A320]]) to compete with the [[Boeing 737]] and [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9]]/[[MD-80]]. The saviour of the A300 was the advent of ETOPS, a revised [[FAA]] rule which allows twin-engine jets to fly long-distance routes that were previously off-limits to them. This enabled Airbus to develop the aircraft as a medium/long-range airliner.

[[File:Eastern Air Lines A300B4-100 N201EA MIA 1990-5-31.png|thumb|[[Eastern Air Lines]] introduced the A300 in the US market in 1977]]

In 1977, US carrier [[Eastern Air Lines]] leased four A300s as an in-service trial.<ref name="Champagne and Drought" /> CEO [[Frank Borman]] was impressed that the A300 consumed 30% less fuel, even less than expected, than Eastern's fleet of [[Lockheed L-1011 TriStar|L-1011s]].  The A300 would be replacing the aging DC-9s and 727-100s but in smaller numbers, while being a twinjet sized between the Tristars and 727-200s, and capable of operating from short runway airports with sufficient range from New York City to Miami.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yesterdaysairlines.com/airline-history-blog/eastern-a300s-a-marriage-made-in-heaven|title=Eastern A300s - A Marriage Made In Heaven|website=YESTERDAY'S AIRLINES}}</ref> Borman proceeded to order 23 A300s, becoming the first U.S. customer for the type. This order is often cited as the point at which Airbus came to be seen as a serious competitor to the large American aircraft-manufacturers [[Boeing]] and [[McDonnell Douglas]].<ref name=Simons />{{rp|40}}<ref name="airbus 30" /><ref name="Champagne and Drought" /> Aviation author John Bowen alleged that various concessions, such as loan guarantees from European governments and compensation payments, were a factor in the decision as well. Although the A300 was originally too large for Eastern's exiting routes, Airbus provided a fixed subsidy for a 57% load factor which decreased for every percent above that figure.<ref name=Bowen />{{rp|52}} The Eastern Air Lines breakthrough was shortly followed by an order from [[Pan Am]]. From then on, the A300 family sold well, eventually reaching a total of 561 delivered aircraft.<ref name="Airbus_Deliveries" />

In December 1977, [[Aerocondor Colombia]] became the first [[Airbus]] operator in [[Latin America]], leasing one Airbus A300B4-2C, named ''Ciudad de [[Barranquilla]]''.

During the late 1970s, Airbus adopted a so-called '[[Silk Road]]' strategy, targeting airlines in the [[Far East]].<ref name=Bowen />{{rp|52}}<ref name="Champagne and Drought" /> As a result, The aircraft found particular favor with Asian airlines, being bought by [[Japan Air System]], [[Korean Air]], [[China Eastern Airlines]], [[Thai Airways International]], [[Singapore Airlines]], [[Malaysia Airlines]], [[Philippine Airlines]], [[Garuda Indonesia]], [[China Airlines]], [[Pakistan International Airlines]], [[Indian Airlines]], [[Trans Australia Airlines]] and many others. As Asia did not have restrictions similar to the FAA [[ETOPS|60-minutes rule]] for twin-engine airliners which existed at the time, Asian airlines used A300s for routes across the [[Bay of Bengal]] and [[South China Sea]].
[[File:Garuda Indonesian Airways Airbus A300B4-220 Rees.jpg|thumb|220x220px|[[Garuda Indonesia]] Airbus A300B4-220 with the newly designed Forward Facing Crew Cockpit or FFCC Concept that operated only by two-man cockpit crew and was the first wide-body aircraft to be operated by two-man cockpit crew.]]
In 1977, the A300B4 became the first ETOPS compliant aircraft,<ref>{{cite web|title=Technology leaders (1977–1979)|url= https://www.airbus.com/company/history/aircraft-history/1977-1979.html |work= Aircraft History |date= 17 June 2021 |publisher=Airbus}}</ref> qualifying for Extended Twin Engine Operations over water, providing operators with more versatility in routing. In 1982, [[Garuda Indonesian Airways]] became the first airline to fly the A300B4-200FFCC with the newly Forward-Facing Crew Cockpit concept, the world's first wide-body aircraft that only operated by two-man cockpit crew.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 January 1995|title=Airbus cockpit/control milestones|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/airbus-cockpit/control-milestones/17511.article|access-date=25 April 2023|website=[[FlightGlobal]]}}</ref> By 1981, Airbus was growing rapidly, with over 400 aircraft sold to over forty airlines.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Paul|date=31 May 1981|title=For Europe's Airbus Industrie It's Decision Time |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/31/business/for-europe-s-airbus-industrie-it-s-decision-time.html|access-date=8 November 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1989, Chinese operator China Eastern Airlines received its first A300; by 2006, the airline operated around 18 A300s, making it the largest operator of both the A300 and the A310 at that time. On 31 May 2014, China Eastern officially retired the last A300-600 in its fleet, having begun drawing down the type in 2010.<ref>Hashim, Firdaus. [https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-china-eastern-retires-a300-600s-400142/ "China Eastern retires A300-600s."] ''Flight International'', 6 June 2014.</ref>

From 1997 to 2014, a single A300, designated [[Weightlessness#European Space Agency A300 Zero-G|A300 Zero-G]], was operated by the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA), [[centre national d'études spatiales]] (CNES) and the [[German Aerospace Center]] (DLR) as a [[reduced-gravity aircraft]] for conducting research into [[microgravity]]; the A300 is the largest aircraft to ever have been used in this capacity.<!--ref name=Beysens--> A typical flight would last for two and a half hours, enabling up to 30 [[parabola]]s to be performed per flight.<ref name=Beysens>Beysens, Daniel A. and Jack J.W. A. van Loon. ''Generation and Applications of Extra-Terrestrial Environments on Earth.'' "River Publishers", 2015. {{ISBN|87-93237-53-7}}. pp. 63–65.</ref><ref>[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/Experience_weightlessness_on_board_the_Zero-G_Airbus "Experience weightlessness on board the 'Zero-G' Airbus."] ''European Space Agency'', Retrieved: 3 March 2016.</ref>

[[File:FedEx Express Airbus A300 Jager.jpg|thumb|On 12 July 2007, the last A300, a [[cargo aircraft|freighter]], was delivered to FedEx Express, as of May 2022 the largest operator with 65 aircraft still in service]]

By the 1990s, the A300 was being heavily promoted as a cargo freighter.<ref name=NorWag />{{rp|24}} The largest freight operator of the A300 is [[FedEx Express]], which has 70 A300 aircraft in service as of September 2022. [[UPS Airlines]] also operates 52 freighter versions of the A300.<ref>{{cite web|last=Flottau|first=Jens|date=20 October 2022|title=The Airbus A300 In-Service Fleet By The Numbers|publisher=[[Aviation Week Network]]|url=https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airlines-lessors/airbus-a300-service-fleet-numbers|access-date=9 January 2025}}</ref>

The final version was the A300-600R and is rated for 180-minute ETOPS. The A300 has enjoyed renewed interest in the secondhand market for conversion to freighters; large numbers were being converted during the late 1990s.<ref name=NorWag />{{rp|24–25}} The freighter versions&nbsp;– either new-build A300-600s or converted ex-passenger A300-600s, A300B2s and B4s&nbsp;– account for most of the world's freighter fleet after the [[Boeing 747]] freighter.<ref>{{Cite web|date=22 December 2016|title=Airbus A300 Available For Cargo Charter|url=http://aircharterguru.com/airbus-a300-available-for-cargo-charter/|access-date=20 October 2021|website=Air Charter Guru|language=en-US}}</ref>

The A300 provided Airbus the experience of manufacturing and selling airliners competitively. The basic fuselage of the A300 was later stretched ([[A330]] and [[A340]]), shortened (A310), or modified into derivatives ([[Airbus Beluga|A300-600ST ''Beluga'' Super Transporter]]). In 2006, unit cost of an −600F was $105 million.<ref name=FIapr2008 /> In March 2006, Airbus announced the impending closure of the A300/A310 final assembly line,<ref>{{Cite news | title = A300/A310 Final Assembly to be completed by July 2007 | publisher = Airbus | date = 7 March 2006 | url = http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/07_03_06_A300_final_assembly.html | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081007110156/http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/07_03_06_A300_final_assembly.html | archive-date = 7 October 2008}}</ref> making them the first Airbus aircraft to be discontinued. The final production A300, an A300F freighter, performed its initial flight on 18 April 2007,<ref>{{Cite news | title = The last A300 makes its maiden flight | publisher = Airbus | date = 18 April 2007 | url = http://www.airbus.com/en/myairbus/newsbrief/index.jsp | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070513035737/http://www.airbus.com/en/myairbus/newsbrief/index.jsp | archive-date = 13 May 2007}}</ref> and was delivered to FedEx Express on 12 July 2007.<ref>Kaminski-Morrow, David. [https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-airbus-delivers-last-a300-215481/ "Airbus delivers last A300."] ''Flight International'', 12 July 2007.</ref> Airbus has announced a support package to keep A300s flying commercially.
Airbus offers the A330-200F freighter as a replacement for the A300 cargo variants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/airbus-aims-to-fill-freighter-void-with-a330-derivative-205407/|title=Airbus aims to fill freighter void with A330 derivative|publisher=[[Flight International]]|date=14 March 2006}}</ref>

The life of UPS's fleet of 52 A300s, delivered from 2000 to 2006, will be extended to 2035 by a flight deck upgrade based around [[Honeywell Primus]] Epic avionics; new displays and [[flight management system]] (FMS), improved [[weather radar]], a central maintenance system, and a new version of the current enhanced [[ground proximity warning system]].<!--<ref name=ATW16may2017 />-->
With a light usage of only two to three cycles per day, it will not reach the maximum number of cycles by then.<!--<ref name=ATW16may2017 />-->
The first modification will be made at Airbus Toulouse in 2019 and certified in 2020.<ref name=ATW16may2017>{{cite news |url= http://www.atwonline.com/avionics/ups-upgrade-airbus-a300-cockpits |work= Air Transport World |publisher= Aviation Week Network |title= UPS to upgrade Airbus A300 cockpits |date= 16 May 2017 |author= Alan Dron |access-date= 17 May 2017 |archive-date= 17 May 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170517055943/http://atwonline.com/avionics/ups-upgrade-airbus-a300-cockpits |url-status= dead }}</ref>
<!-- more details : http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/will-upgraded-cockpit-ups-s-airbus-a300-600-start-trend -->
As of July 2017, there are 211 A300s in service with 22 operators, with the largest operator being FedEx Express with 68 A300-600F aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/asset/18365|title=WorldCensus2017.pdf|website=Flightglobal.com|language=en-GB|access-date=28 June 2018}}</ref>