The Airbus aircraft families offer the highest degree of commonality amongst airframes, on-board systems, cockpits, handling qualities and training of any commercial jetliner product line. The benefits of this unique approach include unmatched flexibility for flight crews, highly efficient operations and reduced costs, as pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers do not need extensive amounts of training to transfer from one aircraft type to another.

Airbus established the concept of commonality with its first two aircraft – the A300 and A310, which benefit from having the same flight decks, engines and other major components. Both have a common type rating for flight crews, allowing pilots to fly either family member with a single qualification. This common design philosophy was broadened with Airbus’ development of its fly-by-wire family, which today includes 10 models that range in size from the 107-seat A318 to the world’s largest passenger aircraft – the 525-seat A380. All feature very similar on-board systems, operating procedures and handling characteristics.

All members of the Airbus single-aisle A320 Family (comprised of the A318, A319, A320 and A321) share the same pilot type rating, enabling crews to fly any of them with a single licence endorsement. The larger A330 and A340 widebodies share the same basic handling qualities and common cockpit layout as the other Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft, so a pilot qualified on any of the A320 Family aircraft can easily transition to the A330/A340, and vice versa.

Conversion from one new-generation type to another involves a short differences training course, undertaken as part of the Cross Crew Qualification (CCQ) concept developed by Airbus. For example, pilots transitioning from the A320 Family to the A330 or A340 aircraft need only eight working days for their CCQ instead of 25 working days for a full type rating training course. Pilots transitioning from the A330 to the A340 require only three days, and it takes only one day to move from the A340 to the A330.