Airbus SE

In 1967, the governments of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a wide-body commercial aircraft. The American aerospace industry — Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed — dominated commercial aviation so completely that no single European company could afford the investment required to compete. The European governments decided that cooperation was the only option. The UK subsequently withdrew from the project in 1969 before rejoining later. Spain joined in 1971. The consortium was named Airbus Industrie.

The A300 made its maiden flight on October 28, 1972. It was the world's first twin-engine wide-body commercial aircraft — previous wide-body jets had three or four engines. The fuel efficiency advantage of two engines was significant, particularly after the 1973 oil crisis drove aviation fuel costs dramatically higher. Early sales were slow — airlines were suspicious of a consortium aircraft assembled from parts made in multiple countries. Eastern Airlines' decision to lease A300s in 1977 gave Airbus its first American customer and proved the aircraft to the industry.

Airbus introduced fly-by-wire technology in the A320, launched in 1988 — replacing mechanical control cables with electronic signals and allowing a computer to intervene if a pilot's inputs would exceed the aircraft's structural limits. The technology was controversial: traditionalists argued that removing direct mechanical control from pilots was dangerous; Airbus argued that computers were more reliable than humans in emergencies. The A320 became the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft and the fly-by-wire standard was adopted by the entire industry, including Boeing.

Airbus launched the A380 programme in 2000 — a double-deck, 555-passenger aircraft intended to challenge the Boeing 747's dominance of high-capacity long-haul routes. The A380 was six years late, $6 billion over budget, and required airports to invest heavily in larger gates and infrastructure. Airlines ordered fewer than anticipated. The aircraft was magnificent but commercially marginal. Airbus announced it would stop producing the A380 in 2019 after delivering 251 aircraft — far below the 751 needed to break even. Emirates, which operated 115 A380s, was essentially the only airline that made the programme viable.

Airbus delivered more commercial aircraft than Boeing in 2019 for the first time — partly because the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. The MAX crashes, caused by a flight control system (MCAS) that pilots had not been told about, were the worst crisis in Boeing's history and the most significant aviation safety scandal in decades. Airbus's A320 family — the Max's primary competitor — benefited from additional orders as airlines sought alternatives. By 2023, Airbus had a backlog of over 8,000 aircraft and had established itself as the world's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer.