Airbus A310-304F

A310
An A310, gear and flaps extended, from Air Transat, its largest operator
Role	Wide-body jet airliner
National origin	Multi-national
Manufacturer	Airbus
First flight	3 April 1982
Introduction	April 1983 with Swissair
Status	In service
Primary users	Air Transat Mahan Air FedEx Express
Produced	1983–1998
Number built	255
Developed from	Airbus A300
Variants	Airbus A310 MRTT Airbus CC-150 Polaris

The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engined wide-body jet airliner that was developed and manufactured by Airbus. Entering service in 1983, it was the second aircraft to enter production by Airbus Industrie, the consortium of European aerospace companies now a subsidiary of Airbus Group. The A310 is a derivative of the Airbus A300, the first twin-engined widebody airliner.

During the development of the original Airbus A300, a range of aircraft size and capacity were studied; the resulting Airbus A300B was one of the smaller options. When the A300B1 prototypes emerged, a number of airlines asked for greater capacity, which resulted in the initial production A300B2 version. As the A300 entered service, it became increasingly apparent that there was also a sizable market for a smaller aircraft; some operators did not have enough traffic to justify the relatively large A300, while others wanted more frequency or lower aircraft-mile costs at the expense of higher seat-mile cost (specifically Swissair and Lufthansa).

Airbus reduced the Research & Development costs of a smaller A300 to a minimum, studying several early projects called A300B10MC (Minimum Change). Capacity was reduced to 220 passengers, which was then a desired capacity from many airlines. However, this would result in a small fuselage mated to a comparatively large wing and oversized undercarriage, which would make the aircraft burn unnecessarily more fuel as it carries more weight.

Another problem was the rate of inflation, which in the UK, during 1979–80, was 35%. This would significantly raise the development costs, and thus the cost of the final product. During the A300's development, Hawker Siddeley Aviation was the subcontractor for the aircraft's wing, after the British government withdrew from the newly formed venture in 1969. HSA subsequently merged with three other companies in 1977 to form British Aerospace (BAe), and by then, the British government had indicated its intentions to rejoin the programme. However, British Airways (BA) and Rolls-Royce did not relinquish their will to collaborate with the Americans, and, in BA's case, buy US aircraft. BA wanted to buy 7N7 and 7X7, which would develop into the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767, with the latter an intended rival to the upcoming A310, as well as the Boeing 747. The French government started talks in May 1976, saying that an order from BA was a condition for re-admission of the UK into Airbus Industrie as a full partner. As this went on, BAe held talks with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas to see if it (BAe) could participate in future programmes, although the company's chairman, Lord Beswick, publicly stated that the aim was really to collaborate in Europe. At the 1978 Farnborough Air Show, Eric Varley, the British Secretary of State for Industry, announced that BAe wished to rejoin the Airbus Industrie as a full partner from 1 January 1979. This would mean BAe would be allocated 20% shareholding and would play "a full part in the development and manufacturing of the A310".

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