Airbus

Airbus is a European multinational aerospace conglomerate headquartered in Toulouse, France. The company traces its roots to the formation of the Airbus Industrie GIE consortium in 1970 and is the result of decades of European aerospace consolidation efforts designed to compete with American defense and aerospace monoliths.

The company launched its first passenger jet, the A300, in 1972. The A300 was a revolutionary aircraft; it was not only the world's first widebody twin-engine passenger jet but also marked the initial offering from what would become Europe's largest aerospace and defense company.

The years following the launch of the A300 program were marked by intensive consolidation and further aircraft development, with the release of the A300B2 (1974), the Tornado multi-role combat jet (1974), the A310 (1982), and the ubiquitous A320 family of jets (1987). In 1991, Airbus launched the ultra-long-range A340 four-engine passenger jet, and the A330 followed in 1992. Additional fixed-wing developments in the 1990s included the launch of the A300-600 Beluga transporter (1994), the first flight of the Eurofighter (1994), the standing-up of Airbus Industrie's Large Aircraft Division and development of the A3XX (1996), and the first flight of the C295 (1997).

Airbus forayed into the corporate jet market in 1997 with the release of the A319 Corporate Jet. The A320 family was an easy first choice for the development of a VIP transport aircraft, but offerings across the Airbus product line have emerged over the decades. As of 2020, the Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) business unit offers the ACJ TwoTwenty, ACJ319neo, ACJ320neo, ACJ330neo, and ACJ350 XWB. ACJ330 and ACJ320 aircraft are now exclusively offered with the New Engine Option (neo), which provides customers with a choice between the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G and CFM International LEAP-1A engines.

Airbus has delivered close to 13,000 aircraft since the launch of the A300. The company maintains roughly 180 global locations and employs just under 135,000 people worldwide.