Press Release

Middle East Airlines (MEA) of Lebanon has taken delivery of the first of six A321s scheduled for delivery during the year 2003 from Airbus. As part of a ceremony held in Toulouse in the presence of His Excellency, Lebanese Minister of Transport Najib Mikati, the A321 was handed over to Middle East A...

New York low-fare carrier JetBlue Airways has signed a contract converting two A320 options to two A320 firm orders, bringing its total number of A320s on order to 78, including those already delivered. Deliveries of these newly ordered aircraft are scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year (200...

Air Tahiti Nui has taken delivery of two firmly ordered A340-300s, as part of a fleet modernisation and expansion that will see it operate four of them.

The aircraft will join the A340s already in service with Air Tahiti Nui on flights to Japan and the US West coast, as well as on one-stop ...

Airbus is very pleased with today's announcement by Iberia that it has selected the A340-600 over the 777-300ER. This decision follows a long and intensive evaluation process as part of Iberia's fleet renewal programme. It shows the level of confidence Iberia, as well as the majority of ot...

Today at a ceremony at Airbus in Broughton, North Wales, the First Minister of Wales, The Right Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, formally opened Airbus UK's three new facilities for manufacturing large components for the wings of the new A380 aircraft.

These three new developments are constructed...

South African Airways (SAA) celebrated its first of nine new Airbus A340-600s marking the commencement of a 41 aircraft, 10-year total fleet modernization programme.

When it puts the A340-600 into service later this month, SAA will become the first airline in the southern Hemisphere and in ...

Cyprus Airways will be entering a new era on 25 January with the introduction of its latest generation A330-200 widebody aircraft on its popular London Heathrow-Larnaca route. The A330-200 offers the most spacious cabin of any widebody jet in its category, creating a more enjoyable seating arrangeme...

Airbus Spares Support and Services, the aircraft manufacturer's spare part division within the customer services organisation, has been awarded the EN9100:2000 certification for its quality management. To gain EN9100:2000 certification, Airbus had to meet criteria which go even beyond the ones ...

Northwest Airlines will become the first U.S. carrier to operate the new Airbus A330-200 widebody airliner, following the conversion of ten of its order for 24 A330-300s, placed in 2001, into A330-200s. This is part of its plan to upgrade its transatlantic fleet with the two new, highly fuel efficie...

Some 200 students and academics attended the first ever Airbus recruitment communication forum in Italy, which took place yesterday at the Politecnico di Torino and which also involved Milan and Pisa Universities. Airbus executives from major functions such as Engineering, Manufacturing and Customer...

In 2002 Airbus continued to generate healthy commercial results despite the industry downturn. Its extensive high-tech product line and customer-focused approach, combined with industrial flexibility and the results of cost saving measures adopted in 2001, enabled Airbus to meet all its objectives f...

Malaysia Airlines will become a new Airbus A380 operator. The airline's parent company Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus to acquire six Airbus A380-800 passenger aircraft which will be leased to the Malaysian flag carrier.

Deliveri...

Qantas has made the longest flight ever by an Airbus A330-200 - nonstop from Toulouse, France, to Melbourne, Australia - covering a distance of almost 17,000 km in a flight time of 20 hours and 4 mins.

The flight is believed to have set two new records in its class ? a distance without landing of 1...

Airbus today celebrated the official kick-off of a new technology programme entitled Aircraft WIng with Advanced Technology OpeRation (AWIATOR). Airbus is contributing 60 per cent of the 80 million Euro budget and will provide key parts of the programme management. The four-year project, co-founded ...

Airbus has today gained certification from the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) for its new cockpit doors that meet all recently introduced and pre-existing safety and security regulations. The first conversion kits will be available for in-service aircraft from the end of May, while all aircraft fro...

New York's jetBlue Airways has converted two more A320 options into firm orders, bringing its total number of A320s on firm order to 76. The two aircraft announced today will be delivered to the airline in December 2002 and May 2003. This is jetBlue's second firm order of the year, follo...

Cyprus Airways took delivery today of its first A319 in Hamburg, Germany. Together with a second A319 order, this aircraft will join the Larnaca-based carrier's in-service fleet of six A320s. An all-Airbus operator for over ten years, Cyprus Airways will also integrate the long-range widebody...

Cathay Pacific Airways is to further expand its Airbus widebody fleet, with a firm order for an additional three A330-300s. Deliveries of the new aircraft, to be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700s, are scheduled to begin next year.

The Hong Kong-based carrier currently operates 20 A330s and...

China Eastern Airlines signed a contract with Airbus today in Shanghai for the firm order of 20 A320 aircraft, scheduled for delivery from the beginning of 2003. The newly ordered aircraft will be powered by CFM International engines.

The purchase agreement was signed by Ye Yigan, Chairman...

Frontier Airlines is placing an order for two Airbus A319 aircraft. The newly-ordered planes will both be delivered in December 2002 and come in addition to Frontier's previously ordered and optioned Airbus aircraft. The airline currently operates a fleet of six A319s. Including the order an...

In a clear vote of confidence in Airbus and Chinese airlines, ten aviation vendors from Europe and the United States signed today agreements with CASC/Airbus Customer Services Support Center in Singapore during the 2002 Asian Aerospace show.

The ten vendors, which include Airbus France Avio...

Following signature of a contract with Airbus in December, China Eastern Airlines Jiangsu Ltd. began deploying LOMS (Line Operation Monitoring System) on its A320 fleet this month. This innovative and user-friendly software tool is, together with FOM (Flight Operation Monitoring), part of Airbus&ap...

Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (S.A.L.E.) has exercised an option for the purchase of an additional A320 aircraft, bringing its total order for Airbus aircraft to 51 to date. The Asian-based lessor is the largest customer for the A320 single-aisle product line in the region.

Includi...

The first A380 technical manual, the "Airplane Characteristics for Airport Planning," was released this month. It can be consulted and/or downloaded from the A380 Family page on Airbus' web site at www.airbus.com. This is the first time a technical manual of this nature has been made availabl...

Demonstrating the excellence of the European aerospace industry, Airbus' A300-600ST Super Transporter - nicknamed Beluga - featuring the world's most voluminous cargo hold, landed in Cayenna, French Guiana, yesterday at 17:30 (local time). It carried the Spot 5 Earth observation sa...

The ultra-long range A340-500, Airbus' longest range airliner to date, took off on its maiden flight today at 10:25 hours local time (09:25 GMT) from the Blagnac international airport in Toulouse, France.

The maiden flight was captained by Airbus Chief Test Pilot Jacques Rosay and co-p...

The Australian investment group Tesna has decided to acquire 30 A320 Family airliners from Airbus - A320s and A321s - and to take an option on another ten, and has signed an MOU with Airbus to this effect in Toulouse on 10th February 2002.

Under the terms of the agreement, delivery of the a...

The French Air Force took delivery today of the first of two Airbus Corporate Jetliners (ACJ) it ordered in 2001. The hand-over ceremony took place at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse, France. The ACJs will be used for the transport of government officials.

The French Air Force ACJs...

Hawker de Havilland has been chosen by Airbus to design and build the wingtips and wingtip fences for the Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world's largest and most modern airliner.

Hawker de Havilland will supply all of the A380 wingtips and fences for the Airbus A380*, as part of business ...

The A380 entered production on schedule today at Airbus' Nantes site in France. The A380 will enter into service in the spring of 2006.

The traditional "first metal cut" from the machining of an aluminum triform (wing-to-fuselage junction) was accompanied today by the production of th...

Airbus has selected Honeywell to supply the Flight Management System (FMS) for all its A380 aircraft. The company's Phoenix, Arizona-based aerospace business will provide the systems for the world's largest airliner, scheduled to enter service in 2006. The computer-driven FMS manages the...

Airbus' A318, the latest member of Airbus' popular single-aisle family, was cleared for its maiden take-off from the Finkenwerder airfield in Hamburg this morning. The first A318 took to the skies at 10:11 hours local time (8:11 GMT).

The flight is captained by Bernd Schaefer, Ch...

Continuing its growth as an airline and its success with Airbus aircraft, New York City (JFK)-based jetBlue Airways has penned an order for 10 additional A320s. Deliveries of these new additions are slated to begin this year and run through 2005. The newly-ordered aircraft, like all of jetBlue&apo...