A
A 10th variation, conceived
in 1973, later the first to be
constructed, was designated
the A300B10.
It was a smaller aircraft which
would be developed into the
long-range Airbus A310. Airbus then
focused its efforts on the single-aisle market,
which was dominated by the 737 and
McDonnell Douglas DC-9.
Air Inter A320-100 in 1991, one of the few A320-100s
Plans from a number of European aircraft manufacturers called for a successor to the
relatively successful BAC One-Eleven, and to replace the 737–200 and DC-9.
Germany's MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm), British Aircraft Corporation, Sweden's
Saab and Spain's CASA worked on the EUROPLANE, a 180- to 200-seat aircraft.
It was abandoned after intruding on A310 specifications. VFW-Fokker, Dornier and
Hawker Siddeley worked on a number of 150-seat designs.
Alongside BAe (which at the time was not part of Airbus) were MBB, Fokker-VFW and
Aérospatiale.
The design within the JET study that was carried forward was the JET2 (163 passengers),
which then became the Airbus S.A1/2/3 series (Single Aisle), before settling on the A320
name for its launch in 1984. Previously, Hawker Siddeley had produced a design called
the HS.134 "Airbus" in 1965, an evolution of the HS.121 (formerly DH.121) Trident,
which shared much of the general arrangement of the later JET3 study design. The
name "Airbus" at the time referred to a BEA requirement, rather than to the later
international programme.
A irbus A320
May 2017
www.alliance-airways.net
17