Airbus reached a historic milestone Friday, delivering its 5000th aircraft (an A330-200 to Qantas) at a special, although low-key, ceremony in Toulouse. Its first aircraft, an A300B2, was delivered to Air France in May 1974 and nine years passed before it delivered its 1,000th. With growing acceptance of its expanding product line, the 2000th was delivered in 1999, the 3000th in 2002 and the 4000th in 2005. Since 2001, Airbus has secured at least 50% of the market for airliners over 100 seats. It now is producing 10 A330s/A340s and 40 A320s a month while production of the A380 is being ramped up to four per month by 2010. Current firm backlog is 3,218, just under the total number of jet aircraft (3,640) produced at McDonnell Douglas facilities at Long Beach, Calif., from 1955 to 2006.
ATWOnline
ATWOnline