HSA was the only manufacturer from Britain that joined the programme and developed and constructed the wing. Later, Britain became a full member of Airbus Industries. Fokker-VFM (Holland) and CASA (Spain) joined Airbus in 1970 and 1971.

Airbus Industries was officially created in 1970. The first designs were already completed and they were about a 250 seat aircraft called now A300B. Initially the aircraft would use two Rolls-Royce RB.207 engines but Rolls-Royce decided to stop the development of the RB.207 and focus on the development of the RB.211 for the Lockheed Tristar (a decision that actually led Rolls-Royce to bankruptcy). So, Airbus decided to provide the aircraft with 3 available engines, the General Electric CF6, the Pratt & Whitney JT9D or the Rolls-Royce RB.211. The diameter of the fuselage of the A300B was 5.64m and allowed the aircraft to have 6 seats per row in the First Class, 7 seats per row in the Business Class and 8 seats per row in the Economy Class. Simultaneously, in charter flights the plane could have up to 9 seats per row. A300B was also able to carry 20 containers LD3.

Despite the fact that A300B2 was a very advanced aircraft, Airbus didn’t manage to convince the airlines and the orders were not enough. The range of the –B2 was only 2,970 km. At the same time, experts believed that the plane would make very little sales. That time, Airbus decided to develop the A300B4, a version that would lead A300 and Airbus Industries to the top. A300B4 was a version capable of carrying up to 270 passengers in a range of 4,825km and later 5,800km. One of the first airlines that showed interest for the new version was Eastern Airlines, which initially leased 4 planes and later ordered 25 with option for 9 more. So, Airbus managed to have orders from the North America, where Boeing ruled the market. The plane proved to be very efficient and airlines like Singapore Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Pan American, Iberia, Lufthansa and other major carriers ordered this plane.

The General Electric CF6-80C and the Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7R4H. In addition, the aircraft is using more advanced materials has a bigger range. The first A300-600 made its first flight in July 8th 1983 and the first airline who ordered it was Saudia. After the -600 Airbus developed a long range version of the aircraft, the A300-600R and the prototype performed its maiden flight in December 9th 1987. The plane had an additional fuel tank in the tail, tank that was developed for the smaller A310. The new plane received many orders, mainly from airlines that were already using the A300B4. American Airlines was the first airline who ordered it and then Thai, Korean Airlines, Lufthansa and Saudia followed.

Airbus also developed three different versions of the plane. The first one was the A300-600 Convertible that could be easily adjusted to carry passengers or cargo. This version hasn’t received any orders. A very popular version is the A300-600F, a fully cargo version of the A300. This version can carry no passengers and has two cargo doors for quick load. It uses two General Electric CF6-80C-2A5 equipped with FADEC system (look at Airbus A320 for more information). Simultaneously, airlines can also choose the Pratt & Whitney PW4158. The aircraft made its first flight in December 2nd 1993. Federal Express placed an order for 25 A300-600F with option for 50 more. Airbus also developed a “strange” version of A300, the A300-600ST, a plane designed to replace the Aerospacelines Guppy that used to transfer the parts of the aircrafts from the factories to the assembly line. The upper part of the fuselage is enlarged so as to carry large parts of aircrafts such as wings, parts of the fuselage etc. The maximum width of the fuselage is 7.37m. These planes are called “Beluga” and four of them were constructed.