Airbus

The story so far

Airbus began in 1970 as a political improbability: a consortium of French, German, British and Spanish partners pooling their aircraft industries to challenge American dominance. Its first product, the A300, was the world's first twin-engine widebody — an aircraft the established manufacturers said the market did not want.

Two decades later Airbus had pioneered fly-by-wire in airliners with the A320, and by the 2000s it was building the largest passenger aircraft ever flown. Today it splits the world's airliner market with Boeing almost evenly, and its aircraft on this site range from the A300 that started it all to the A380 and the composite A350.

Airbus aircraft

Silhouettes are sized by real wingspan — bigger aircraft draw bigger.

Every type, ranked by length