Airbus: How Europe Took On Boeing

In 1970, the idea that Europe could challenge America’s aircraft makers seemed almost absurd. Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed dominated the world’s airliner market. European manufacturers had built some brilliant aircraft, such as the Caravelle, the Comet and Concorde, but none had sold in big numbers. Today Airbus delivers more airliners each year than any other company.

A consortium, not a company

Airbus began on 18 December 1970 as Airbus Industrie, a consortium in which France’s Aérospatiale and a German group, Deutsche Airbus, each held a large stake. They were later joined by British Aerospace and Spain’s CASA. Each partner built different parts of the aircraft in its own country, which is why Airbus still makes wings in Britain, fuselage sections in Germany and France, and tails in Spain, then flies them to final assembly.

Its first aircraft, the A300, flew on 28 October 1972. It was the world’s first twin-engined widebody airliner, a bet that two engines could do the work of three or four on routes too busy for a narrowbody. Sales were slow at first, but the idea proved right: today almost every long-haul airliner has two engines.

The A320: changing how airliners are flown

Airbus’s breakthrough came with the A320, which first flew in 1987 and entered service in 1988. It was the first airliner to use full digital fly-by-wire controls, with computers translating pilots’ inputs and protecting the aircraft from leaving safe limits, and the first to replace the traditional control column with a sidestick. Airbus gave its later aircraft very similar cockpits, so pilots could move between types with little extra training, a big cost saving for airlines.

The A320 family, including the smaller A319 and the longer A321, became a phenomenon. In October 2025 Airbus delivered its 12,260th, overtaking the Boeing 737 as the best-selling airliner family ever.

A factory network that flies

Because Airbus parts are made in several countries, it needs a way to move huge pieces between factories. Its answer is the Beluga, a whale-shaped transport aircraft with a giant bulbous upper deck. The original Belugas were based on the A300; the larger BelugaXL, based on the A330, entered service in 2020 and can carry two A350 wings at once.

Final assembly happens on ten lines across four countries:

• Toulouse, France: the historic home of Airbus, with lines for the A320 family, A330 and A350.
• Hamburg, Germany: four A320-family lines at Finkenwerder, on the River Elbe.
• Mobile, Alabama, USA: A320 family and A220, building aircraft inside its biggest market rival’s home country.
• Tianjin, China: A320-family lines serving China’s fast-growing airlines, with a second line opened in 2025.

The A220 is also built at Mirabel, near Montreal, a legacy of its origins as Bombardier’s CSeries. Read more about that in our De Havilland Canada and Bombardier history.

The A380: a giant that didn’t last

Airbus’s boldest bet was the A380, the double-deck superjumbo that entered service with Singapore Airlines in 2007. Passengers loved its space and quietness, and Emirates built much of its network around it. But the market moved toward big twin-engined jets that are cheaper to run and easier to fill, like the 787 and Airbus’s own A350. A380 production ended in 2021.

The lesson echoes the A300’s original insight: airlines will usually choose the most efficient way to carry passengers, and today that means two engines. It’s a rivalry that has shaped every airliner you fly on. See where it began on the other side of the Atlantic, with Boeing.

Sources & Further Reading

• Our history — Airbus ↗
• History of Airbus — Wikipedia ↗
• Airbus A300 — Wikipedia ↗
• The Airbus Beluga — Airbus ↗
• Airbus opens second A320 family final assembly line in China — Airbus ↗