Widebody · ICAO A30B

Airbus A-300B4-2

The Airbus A300 was Airbus's first aircraft and, when it entered service in 1974, the world's first twin-engine widebody airliner — until then, wide-cabin jets had needed three or four engines. That two-engine layout made it notably cheaper to operate on medium-haul routes than its trijet and quadjet competitors. Its success proved the twinjet widebody concept and set the template every Airbus aircraft since has followed. Without the A300, the now-dominant twin-engine widebodies like the 777, A330, and 787 might never have been built the way they were.

Airbus A-300B4-2, example photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Aldo Bidini · GFDL 1.2 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know?

The A300 was the world's first twin-engine widebody airliner, proving twinjets could replace the tri- and quadjets of its era.

Specifications

Length54.1 m (177 ft)
Wingspan44.8 m (147 ft)
Height16.5 m (54 ft)
Maximum passengers345
Persons on board200-360
Maximum take-off weight165 t
Range3,350 NM (6,204 km)
Maximum speed488 kt (904 km/h)
Service ceiling37,000 ft (11,278 m)
Optimum ceiling35,000 ft (10,668 m)
Rate of climb3,200 ft/min (16.3 m/s)
Take-off distance2,800 m (9,186 ft)
Landing distance1,600 m (5,249 ft)
EnginesCF6-50/PW JT9D

Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.

In CatchFlights

In CatchFlights the Airbus A-300B4-2 starts as a Rare catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.

A catch counts for the manufacturer Airbus, the A300/A310 family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.

More from the A300/A310 family

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