Atatürk International Airport,Istanbul

Atatürk International Airport Atatürk Uluslararası Havalimanı
IATA: IST – ICAO: LTBA
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		General Directorate of State Airports
Operator		TAV Airport Management
Serves		Istanbul, Turkey
Location		Yeşilköy
Hub for		*Turkish Airlines *Atlasjet *Onur Air
Elevation AMSL		163 ft / 50 m
Coordinates		40°58′34″N 028°48′51″E
Website		www.ataturkairport.com
Map
IST Location within Istanbul
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
17L/35R	3,000	9,843	Concrete
17R/35L	3,000	9,843	Concrete
05/23	2,600	7,546	Grooved Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Total passengers			29,757,384
International Passengers			18,363,739
Sources: Turkish AIP at EUROCONTROL

Atatürk International Airport (IATA: IST, ICAO: LTBA)(Turkish: Atatürk Uluslararası Havalimanı) is the major international airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Opened in 1924 and located in Yeşilköy, on the European side of the city, it is 24 km (15 mi) west of the city centre. In 1980, the airport was renamed to Atatürk International Airport in honor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and the first president of the Republic of Turkey. With total passenger traffic of 30 million for the year 2009, it is among the top 40 airports in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 20th busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. It is Europe's 9th busiest airport.

Runways

There is a plan to build another runway parallel to runway 05/23, so when the original runway 05/23 is under repair, this runway will be able to handle the traffic without any problem. But to work on this project, the military land is a fact of negotiation between the authorities as the space for new runway belongs to military. Also there are plans to expand the length of the runway 05/23 as well, by this way, runway will be able to handle larger aircraft as most airlines started to fly to Istanbul with larger aircraft..

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Atatürk airport has four terminals:

Terminal A, for domestic flights

Terminal B, for international flights

Terminal C, for cargo flights

General Aviation Terminal

Inaugurated in 2001, the international terminal is an efficient and modern terminal. After the new terminal opened, domestic flights were moved to the old international terminal. Despite its 1970s design, this new domestic terminal can handle more passengers than the more modern but smaller previous domestic terminal.

The airport terminals have been operated by TAV (Tepe-Akfen-Ventures) since January 2000. TAV has invested US$600 million since 1998. In 2005 TAV won the concession agreement to operate Atatürk for 15.5 years at a record breaking amount of $3 billion, which also represents the highest figure for such a privatization project in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Commonwealth of Independent States and North Africa.

TAV (Tepe-Akfen-Ventures) started its construction at the airport for new boarding gates at international terminal as well as building a new air traffic control tower. Unused facility buildings are demolished and 3 new boarding bridges are being built. When the new tower is completed, the old one will be demolished.When the international terminal is expanded, some of the jet ways will be left to the domestics terminal which are on the west of the international terminal, connected to it.

Passenger

Airlines Destinations Terminal

Adria Airways Ljubljana B

Aegean Airlines Athens B

Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo B

Aerosvit Airlines Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev-Boryspil, Odessa, Simferopol B

Air Algérie Algiers, Constantine, Oran B

Air Astana Almaty, Astana, Atyrau B

Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle B

Air Malta Malta B

Air Moldova Chişinău B

Air Transat Seasonal: Montreal-Trudeau [begins 15 May], Toronto-Pearson [begins 15 May] TBA

airBaltic Riga B

Albanian Airlines Tirana B

Alitalia Rome-Fiumicino, Turin B

Ariana Afghan Airlines Kabul B

Armavia Yerevan B

Asiana Airlines Seoul-Incheon [resumes 27 March] B

Atlasjet Antalya, Bodrum, Izmir A

Atlasjet Arbil, Ercan, Pristina, Sulaimaniyah B

Austrian Airlines Vienna B

Austrian operated by Tyrolean Airways Vienna B

Azerbaijan Airlines Baku B

Azmar Airlines Sulaimaniyah B

Belavia Minsk B

Berkut Air Astana B

B&H Airlines Sarajevo B

British Airways London-Heathrow B

Buraq Air Tripoli, Benghazi B

Caspian Airlines Tehran-Imam Khomeini B

Corendon Airlines Amsterdam, Tehran-Imam Khomeini B

Croatia Airlines Zagreb [begins March 27] B

Delta Air Lines New York-JFK B

Donavia Rostov-on-Don, Sochi B

Donbassaero Donetsk B

Dniproavia Dnipropetrovsk B

Eastok Avia Sulaimaniyah B

EgyptAir Cairo B

Emirates Dubai B

Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi B

Finnair Helsinki [ends April 11] B

Freebird Airlines Madrid B

Gulf Air Bahrain B

Iberia Madrid B

Iran Air Tabriz, Tehran-Imam Khomeini B

Iraqi Airways Baghdad, Basra[2] B

Jat Airways Belgrade B

Jetairfly Brussels South-Charleroi B

Kish Air Tehran-Imam Khomeini B

KLM Amsterdam B

Korean Air Seoul-Incheon B

Kuban Airlines Krasnodar B

Libyan Airlines Benghazi, Tripoli B

LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw B

Lufthansa Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich B

Mahan Air Tehran-Imam Khomeini B

Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur B

Malév Hungarian Airlines Budapest B

Middle East Airlines Beirut B

Motor Sich Airlines Zaporizhia B

Nile Air Cairo B

Nouvelair Monastir B

Olympic Air Athens B

Onur Air Adana, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Izmir, Malatya, Samsun, Trabzon A

Pakistan International Airlines Abu Dhabi, Islamabad B

Pegasus Airlines operated by IZair İzmir A

Polet Airlines Voronezh B

Qatar Airways Doha B

Red Wings Airlines Moscow-Vnukovo B

Rossiya St Petersburg B

Royal Air Maroc Casablanca B

Royal Jordanian Amman-Queen Alia B

Sky Airlines Antalya, Hamburg, Tel Aviv A,B

Somon Air Dushanbe B

Saudi Arabian Airlines Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh B

SCAT Aktau B

Singapore Airlines Singapore B

SkyExpress Moscow-Vnukovo B

Swiss International Airlines Zürich B

Syrian Air Aleppo, Damascus B

Tailwind Airlines Düsseldorf B

Tajikistan Airlines Dushanbe B

TAROM Bucharest-Otopeni B

Tatarstan Airlines Kazan B

Tunis Air Tunis B

Turkish Airlines Adana, Adıyaman, Ağrı, Ankara, Antalya, Batman, Bodrum, Çanakkale, Dalaman, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Isparta, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kars, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Mardin, Merzifon, Muş, Nevşehir, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Sinop, Sivas, Trabzon, Uşak, Van A

Turkish Airlines Abu Dhabi, Accra, Addis Ababa, Aleppo, Alexandria-Borg el Arab, Algiers, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Astana, Athens, Baghdad, Bahrain, Baku, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Batumi, Basel/Mulhouse, Beijing-Capital, Beirut, Belgrade, Benghazi, Berlin-Tegel, Birmingham, Bishkek, Bologna, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Cairo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Chicago-O'Hare, Chişinău, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dakar, Damascus, Dar es Salaam, Delhi, Dhaka, Dnepropetrovsk, Doha, Donetsk, Dubai, Dublin, Dushanbe, Düsseldorf, Entebbe, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Guangzhou [begins 30 January], Hamburg, Hanover, Helsinki, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Karachi, Kazan, Khartoum, Kiev-Boryspil, Kuwait, Lagos, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles [begins 3 March], Lviv, Lyon, Madinah, Madrid, Manchester, Mashhad, Milan-Malpensa, Minsk, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Mumbai, Munich, Muscat, Nairobi, New York-JFK, Nice, Nicosia-Ercan, Nuremberg, Odessa, Osaka-Kansai, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Riga, Riyadh, Rome-Fiumicino, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Sana'a, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Sarajevo, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Shiraz, Simferopol, Singapore, Skopje, Sochi, Sofia, Stockholm-Arlanda, Stuttgart, Tabriz, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tehran-Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Tripoli, Tunis, Ufa, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles, Yekaterinburg, Zagreb, Zürich B

Turkmenistan Airlines Ashgabat B

Turkuaz Airlines Hanover, Stuttgart B

Uzbekistan Airlines Tashkent B

Wataniya Airways Kuwait B

Viking Hellas Erbil, Rhodes B

Wind Rose Aviation Kiev-Boryspil B

[edit]Cargo airlines

Airlines Destinations

ACT Airlines Hong Kong, New York-JFK, Lahore, Singapore, Tallinn

Air France Cargo operated by MNG Cargo Paris-Charles de Gaulle

Cargolux Luxembourg

DHL Aviation operated by MNG Cargo Leipzig/Halle

EgyptAir Cargo Cairo

Fedex operated by MNG Cargo Brussels

Jade Cargo International Hong Kong

KLM Cargo operated by Martinair Cargo Amsterdam

Korean Air Cargo Incheon

Kuzu Airlines Cargo Amsterdam, Dubai, Kuwait, London-Gatwick

Lufthansa Cargo Frankfurt

MASkargo Kuala Lumpur

MNG Cargo Hahn, London-Luton, Milan-Malpensa, Tallinn, Tel Aviv

Qatar Airways Cargo operated by MNG Cargo Doha 

Royal Jordanian Cargo Amman

TNT Airways Europe

Turkish Airlines Cargo Algiers, Almaty, Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca, Cologne/Bonn, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, London-Gatwick, Maastricht/Aachen, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pristina, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv, Tripoli, Tirana, Zürich

ULS Airlines Cargo Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Manston, Shanghai

UPS Airlines Europe

Other facilities

Turkish Airlines has its headquarters in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building, located on the airport property.

Traffic

A view from the interior of the international terminal.

Atatürk Airport still faces capacity issues; it ranks somewhere between 30th and 40th in the world by both cargo and passenger traffic, handling over 825,000 tonnes of load (cargo, freight and mail) and over 30 million passengers in the year 2009. The total number of passengers has doubled in the past five years, and domestic traffic has almost quadrupled (see statistics section below). Its rated capacity of 14 million international passengers per year and 10 million domestic passengers per year was barely sufficient for the demand in 2007 and 2008. The Istanbul greater metropolitan area is expected/projected to have a demand of 25 million international passengers and 25 million domestic passengers annually by the year 2015. However, introduction of high speed trains between Ankara and Istanbul in 2010, and completion of the construction of the intercity highways linking Istanbul to other cities (to Bursa, İzmir, Antalya and the Black Sea Speedway) may help decrease this demand.

Atatürk shares traffic with Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, which is on the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul, which had annual passenger traffic of just 6.3 million in 2009. The two airports both provide domestic and international service to the Istanbul area.

A third big airport is being planned in Silivri suburb of Istanbul 40 km west of Istanbul, in order to meet Istanbul's growing domestic and international air traffic demand as a source, destination and transit point.

If the current passenger growth maintains itself, IST is expected to become one of the 30 busiest airports in the world in terms of total passenger traffic for 2010.

Below is the passenger data for Istanbul for the years 2002–2009:

Statistics

The 'total' column below exclude the number of transit passengers. 

İstanbul Atatürk International Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics

Year (months) Domestic %change International %change Total %change

2010 (all) 11,800,999 3.0% 20,344,620 11.0% 32,145,619 8.0%

2009 (all) 11,393,645 0.8% 18,363,739 7.6% 29,757,384 4.2%

2008 (all) 11,484,063 19.7% 17,069,069 25.5% 28,553,132 23.1%

2007 (all) 9,595,923 5.5% 13,600,306 11.7% 23,196,229 9.1%

2006 (all) 9,091,693 21.0% 12,174,281 3.3% 21,265,974 10.2%

2005 (all) 7,512,282 38.3% 11,781,487 15.9% 19,293,769 23.7%

2004 (all) 5,430,925 69.9% 10,169,676 14.2% 15,600,601 28.9

2003 (all) 3,196,045 12.1% 8,908,268 4.7% 12,104,342 6.6%

2002 (all) 2,851,487 8,506,204 11,357,691

İstanbul Airport Load Statistics (cargo+freight+mail)

Year (months) Load %change Cargo only *** %change

2010 (all) 947,021 15% Data Not Available Yet

2009 (all) 824,975 5.3% Data Not Available Yet

2008 (all) 766,221 4.3% 349,999 5.2%

2007 (all) 734,820 14% 332,753 13.7%

2006 (all) 644,901 4.7% 292,678 7.3%

2005 (all) 615,909 7% 272,735 3.1%

2004 (all) 573,284 14% 264,599 15.5%

2003 (all) 502,692 4.7% 229,076 8.4%

2002 (all) 480,022 211,412

(*) Preliminary data (**) Estimate based on total transit volume of Turkish airports. (***) Link: Source: DHMI.gov.tr

Access

A view from the international terminal's entrance and exit areas
and the connection bridge to the multi-storey car park.

There are several ways to travel between Atatürk International Airport and the city center.

Light Rail Service : Light rail service exists between Aksaray and Atatürk International Airport. The line goes through some major parts of the European side of the city; including the intercity bus terminal. The LRT takes the passengers to Aksaray in 30–35 minutes. The approximate cost is 0.75 euros one-way.

Airport Shuttle Service : The shuttle services are operated by Havaş, which is one of the major ground handling companies within Turkey. The busses run half-hourly to Bakırköy, Yenikapı, Aksaray, Taksim Square, hourly to Kozyatağı (on the Anatolian side), two-hourly to Etiler-Akmerkez. Also, there is a fast ferry terminal in Bakırköy which connects the terminal to Bostancı and Kadıköy. Havaş buses run between the airport and the fast ferry terminal according to the departures and arrivals of the ferries.

Municipality Bus : Municipality buses also run to Taksim, Etiler and Kozyatağı. This is a slower but much cheaper alternative than Havaş.

Car : The airport is accessible through the coastal road, D-100 international road and TEM (Trans-European Motorway).

Incidents and accidents

At the airport

2006 fire: At about 3:30 p.m. (local summer time, GMT+3) on 24 May 2006, a fire broke out in the cargo terminal (Terminal C) building, about 1 km away from the international and domestic terminal buildings, billowing clouds of black smoke and forcing the suspension of some air traffic. Local officials have reportedly attributed the fire to sparks from a soldering iron. Three people were treated for smoke inhalation. The fire was under control after 90 minutes of work by firemen and accompanying two Bombardier CL-215 fire-fighting planes which were hired two days previously by the Metropolitan Municipality.

On 23 March 2007 an Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A300B4 (YA-BAD) after a flight from Kabul via Ankara, landed at Atatürk International Airport, overran the runway and came to a halt resting on its right wing. The weather at the time was poor with rain and gusting winds. As of 2007 the aircraft was being dismantled.

Wikinews has related news: AMC Airlines charter plane from Hurghada to Warsaw with 156 passengers on board belly lands in Instanbul - one hurt

On 11 October 2007 a charter flight by Egypt's AMC Airlines, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (SU-BOY), made an emergency belly landing at the Atatürk International Airport while on route from Hurghada International Airport to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, overshooting the runway. There were no fatalities; there was one injury, and the plane was badly damaged.

On October 4, 2009 - Jat Airways Flight JU420, a Boeing 737-300 from Belgrade, overran the runway by about 50 meters stopping with all gear on soft ground. The plane carried 125 passengers and 6 crew on board. All 125 passengers and six crew members were evacuated safely.

On 12 August 2010, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 75, operated by Airbus A319-111 4K-AZ04 suffered a collapse of the undercarriage when the aircraft departed the runway on landing. The aircraft was substantially damaged but all 127 passengers and crew escaped unharmed.

Involving aircraft arriving to and departing from the airport

3 March 1974 - Turkish Airlines Flight 981, which crashed in France due to explosive decompression, killing all 346 people aboard. The main cause was a design fault on the cargo doors of DC-10 aircraft, registered TC-JAV and named Ankara. Prior to the Tenerife airport disaster, it was the deadliest aircraft disaster in the world.

On 10 September 1976, a Trident 3B on British Airways Flight 476, flying from London Heathrow to Istanbul collided in mid-air with an Inex Adria DC9-32 near Zagreb, Croatia, resulting in the 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision. All 54 passengers and 9 crew members on the BA aircraft died.

On 16 January 1983, Turkish Airlines Flight 158, a Boeing 727-2F2 (registration TC-JBR, named Afyon) landed about 50 m (160 ft) short of the runway at Ankara Esenboğa Airport (ESB/LTAC) in driving snow, broke up and caught fire. 47 passengers died, all of the seven crew and 13 passengers survived the accident with injuries.

On 8 January 2003 - Turkish Airlines Flight 634, an Avro RJ-100 (registration: TC-THG, named Konya) crashed while on a VOR/DME approach to runway 34 at Diyarbakir Airport (DIY/LTCC), Turkey. 75 of the 80 passengers and crew died.

25 February 2009 - Turkish Airlines Flight 1951, a Boeing 737-800 from Istanbul, crashed on approach to Amsterdam Airport. The plane carried 128 passengers and 7 crew on board. Nine people died, 86 passengers were injured, of whom six in critical condition.

(source:wikipedia)

Air Arabia,العربية للطيران

Air Arabia

IATA G9 ICAO ABY Callsign ARABIA
Founded	3 February 2003
Commenced operations	28 October 2003
Bases	Sharjah International Airport
Alliance	Arab Air Carriers Organization
Subsidiaries	Air Arabia Egypt Air Arabia Jordan Air Arabia Maroc
Fleet size	22
Destinations	57
Headquarters	Sharjah, U.A.E.
Key people	Adel Ali (CEO)
Website	airarabia.com

Air Arabia is a low-cost airline with its head office in the Sharjah Freight Center, near Sharjah International Airport, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

The airline is the first and largest low cost airline in the Middle East, Air Arabia operates scheduled services to 46 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Europe to 22 countries from Sharjah, 11 destinations in 10 countries from Casablanca and 5 destinations in 5 countries from Alexandria.

Its main base is Sharjah International Airport where it functions as a low cost conduit base, similar to low cost airport bases in Europe such as Rome Ciampino, London Stansted and Brussels South. Air Arabia separates it from many low cost carriers in that it offers connections to many flights at its base in Sharjah. It also offers some checked luggage at no cost. Air Arabia also has focus cities in Alexandria and Casablanca. Air Arabia is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

History

Air Arabia (العربية للطيران) was established on 3 February 2003 by an Amiri decree issued by Dr. Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah and member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first low-fare airline in the region. The airline started operations on 28 October 2003 with the first flight from Sharjah, UAE to Bahrain International Airport. The airline was profitable from the first year of being in business. It issued a successful initial public offering for 55% of its stock early in 2007.

Subsidiaries

An Air Arabia Airbus A320-200 (2008)

Air Arabia has created subsidiaries for some international bases. The following countries have had or still do have subsidiary airlines based there:

Egypt

Air Arabia Egypt (2010–present) - On 9 September 2009, Air Arabia announced Air Arabia Egypt as a joint venture with Egyptian travel and tourism company Travco Group to be based in Alexandria, Egypt. The airline received its operating license on 22 May 2010, with commercial flights beginning 1 June 2010.

Jordan

Air Arabia Jordan (TBA) - On 7 June 2010, Air Arabia announced that they had signed a deal with Tantash Group to form Air Arabia Jordan which will be based in Amman, Jordan. The proposed airline will operate flights from Queen Alia International Airport to Europe, Middle East and North Africa.

[

Morocco

Air Arabia Maroc (2009–present) - Air Arabia, in a joint venture with Moroccan investors established Air Arabia Maroc and set up a secondary base in Morocco's largest city, Casablanca; it began operations on 6 May 2009, allowing them to expand into Europe and Africa.

Nepal

Fly Yeti (2007–2008) - In 2007, Air Arabia opened a base in Nepal's capital Kathmandu to serve Asia and the Middle East, with the signing of a joint venture agreement with Yeti Airlines, establishing a low-cost carrier, called Fly Yeti that provided affordable and convenient service to a broad range of international destinations. Due to the uncertain political and economic situation prevailing in Nepal, FlyYeti operations were suspended since early 2008.

Destinations

Air Arabia destinations

Fleet

As of January 2011, the Air Arabia fleet consists of 22 Airbus A320-200 aircraft with an average age of 3.2 years, which are all equipped with 162 passenger seats in an all-economy class cabin layout.The airline has ordered a total of 40 aircraft of this type.

Incidents and accidents

On 6 May 2006, an Armenian International Airways aircraft that was leased to Air Arabia at that time was destroyed in a hangar fire at Brussels Airport, along with four other airliners parked there.

On 25 April 2010, Air Arabia Flight 521 made an emergency landing at Karachi Airport due to a fire in the cargo hold and a subsequent formation of smoke. The plane landed safely at 4:10pm local time, with no injuries amongst the crew and 155 passengers onboard.

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Airbus

Airbus SAS

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1970 (as Airbus Industrie) 2001 (Airbus as SAS)
Headquarters	Blagnac, France
Key people	Thomas Enders, CEO Harald Wilhelm, CFO John Leahy, CCO Fabrice Brégier, COO
Products	Commercial airliners (list)
Revenue	€27.45 billion (FY 2008)
Net income	€1.597 billion (FY 2008)
Employees	52,000
Parent	EADS
Subsidiaries	Airbus Military
Website	www.airbus.com

Airbus SAS (English pronunciation: /ˈɛərbʌs/, French: [ɛʁbys] ( listen), German: [ˈɛːɐbʊs]) is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, near Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners.

Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. Consolidation of European defence and aerospace companies around the turn of the 21st century allowed the establishment of a simplified joint-stock company in 2001, owned by EADS (80%) and BAE Systems (20%). After a protracted sales process BAE sold its shareholding to EADS on 13 October 2006.

Airbus employs around 57,000 people at sixteen sites in four European Union countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. Final assembly production is at Toulouse (France), Hamburg (Germany), Seville (Spain) and, since 2009, Tianjin (People's Republic of China). Airbus has subsidiaries in the United States, Japan, PRC and India.

The company is known for producing and marketing the first commercially viable fly-by-wire airliner, the Airbus A320, and the world's largest airliner, the A380.

History

Origins

Airbus Industrie began as a consortium of European aviation firms to compete with American companies such as Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed.

While many European aircraft were innovative, even the most successful had small production runs. In 1991, Jean Pierson, then CEO and Managing Director of Airbus Industrie, described a number of factors which explained the dominant position of American aircraft manufacturers: the land mass of the United States made air transport the favoured mode of travel; a 1942 Anglo-American agreement entrusted transport aircraft production to the US; and World War II had left America with "a profitable, vigorous, powerful and structured aeronautical industry."

"For the purpose of strengthening European co-operation in the field of aviation technology and thereby promoting economic and technological progress in Europe, to take appropriate measures for the joint development and production of an airbus."

Airbus Mission Statement

In the mid-1960s, tentative negotiations commenced regarding a European collaborative approach. Individual aircraft companies had already envisaged such a requirement; in 1959 Hawker Siddeley had advertised an "Airbus" version of the Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy, which would "be able to lift as many as 126 passengers on ultra short routes at a direct operating cost of 2d. per seat mile." However, European aircraft manufacturers were aware of the risks of such a development and began to accept, along with their governments, that collaboration was required to develop such an aircraft and to compete with the more powerful US manufacturers. At the 1965 Paris Air Show major European airlines informally discussed their requirements for a new "airbus" capable of transporting 100 or more passengers over short to medium distances at a low cost. The same year Hawker Siddeley (at the urging of the UK government) teamed with Breguet and Nord to study airbus designs. The Hawker Siddeley/Breguet/Nord groups HBN 100 became the basis for the continuation of the project. By 1966 the partners were Sud Aviation, later Aerospatiale (France), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus, later Deutsche Airbus (Germany) and Hawker Siddeley (UK). A request for funding was made to the three governments in October 1966. On 25 July 1967 the three governments agreed to proceed with the proposal.

In the two years following this agreement, both the British and French governments expressed doubts about the project. The MoU had stated that 75 orders must be achieved by 31 July 1968. The French government threatened to withdraw from the project due to the concern over funding development of the Airbus A300, Concorde and the Dassault Mercure concurrently, but was persuaded otherwise. Having announced its concern at the A300B proposal in December 1968, and fearing it would not recoup its investment due to lack of sales, the British government announced its withdrawal on 10 April 1969. Germany took this opportunity to increase its share of the project to 50%. Given the participation by Hawker Siddeley up to that point, France and Germany were reluctant to take over its wing design. Thus the British company was allowed to continue as a privileged subcontractor. Hawker Siddeley invested GB£35 million in tooling and, requiring more capital, received a GB£35 million loan from the German government.

Formation of Airbus Industrie

Airbus A300, the first aircraft model launched by Airbus.

Airbus Industrie was formally established as a Groupement d'Interet Economique (Economic Interest Group or GIE) on 18 December 1970. It had been formed by a government initiative between France, Germany and the UK that originated in 1967. The name "Airbus" was taken from a non-proprietary term used by the airline industry in the 1960s to refer to a commercial aircraft of a certain size and range, for this term was acceptable to the French linguistically. Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus each took a 36.5% share of production work, Hawker Siddeley 20% and Fokker-VFW 7%. Each company would deliver its sections as fully equipped, ready-to-fly items. In October 1971 the Spanish company CASA acquired a 4.2% share of Airbus Industrie, with Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus reducing their stakes to 47.9%. In January 1979 British Aerospace, which had absorbed Hawker Siddeley in 1977, acquired a 20% share of Airbus Industrie. The majority shareholders reduced their shares to 37.9%, while CASA retained its 4.2%.

Development of the Airbus A300

Main article: Airbus A300

An American Airlines A300B4-605R

The Airbus A300 was to be the first aircraft to be developed, manufactured and marketed by Airbus. By early 1967 the "A300" label began to be applied to a proposed 320 seat, twin engined airliner. Following the 1967 tri-government agreement, Roger Béteille was appointed technical director of the A300 development project. Béteille developed a division of labour which would be the basis of Airbus' production for years to come: France would manufacture the cockpit, flight control and the lower centre section of the fuselage; Hawker Siddeley, whose Trident technology had impressed him, was to manufacture the wings; Germany should make the forward and rear fuselage sections, as well as the upper centre section; The Dutch would make the flaps and spoilers; finally Spain (yet to become a full partner) would make the horizontal tailplane. On 26 September 1967 the German, French and British governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding in London which allowed continued development studies. This also confirmed Sud Aviation as the "lead company", that France and the UK would each have a 37.5% workshare with Germany taking 25%, and that Rolls-Royce would manufacture the engines.

In the face of lukewarm support from airlines for a 300+ seat Airbus A300, the partners submitted the A250 proposal, later becoming the A300B, a 250 seat airliner powered by pre-existing engines. This dramatically reduced development costs, as the Rolls-Royce RB207 to be used in the A300 represented a large proportion of the costs. The RB207 had also suffered difficulties and delays, since Rolls-Royce was concentrating its efforts on the development of another jet engine, the RB211, for the Lockheed L-1011 and Rolls-Royce entering into administration due to bankruptcy in 1971. The A300B was smaller but lighter and more economical than its three-engined American rivals.

"We showed the world we were not sitting on a nine-day wonder, and that we wanted to realise a family of planes…we won over customers we wouldn’t otherwise have won...now we had two planes that had a great deal in common as far as systems and cockpits were concerned."

Jean Roeder, chief engineer of Deutsche Airbus, speaking of the A310

In 1972, the A300 made its maiden flight and the first production model, the A300B2 entered service in 1974; though the launch of the A300 was overshadowed by the similarly timed supersonic aircraft Concorde. Initially the success of the consortium was poor, but orders for the aircraft picked up, due in part to the marketing skills used by Airbus CEO Bernard Lathière, targeting airlines in America and Asia. By 1979 the consortium had 256 orders for A300, and Airbus had launched a more advanced aircraft, the A310, in the previous year. It was the launch of the A320 in 1981 that guaranteed the status of Airbus as a major player in the aircraft market - the aircraft had over 400 orders before it first flew, compared to 15 for the A300 in 1972.

Transition to Airbus SAS

Logo of Airbus until September 2010

Air Algérie Airbus A330-200 landing in Montréal-Trudeau

The retention of production and engineering assets by the partner companies in effect made Airbus Industrie a sales and marketing company. This arrangement led to inefficiencies due to the inherent conflicts of interest that the four partner companies faced; they were both GIE shareholders of, and subcontractors to, the consortium. The companies collaborated on development of the Airbus range, but guarded the financial details of their own production activities and sought to maximise the transfer prices of their sub-assemblies. It was becoming clear that Airbus was no longer a temporary collaboration to produce a single plane as per its original mission statement, it had become a long term brand for the development of further aircraft. By the late 1980s work had begun on a pair of new medium-sized aircraft, the biggest to be produced at this point under the Airbus name, the Airbus A330 and the Airbus A340.

Airbus A330, a new aircraft introduced in 1994

In the early 1990s the then Airbus CEO Jean Pierson argued that the GIE should be abandoned and Airbus established as a conventional company. However, the difficulties of integrating and valuing the assets of four companies, as well as legal issues, delayed the initiative. In December 1998, when it was reported that British Aerospace and DASA were close to merging, Aérospatiale paralysed negotiations on the Airbus conversion; the French company feared the combined BAe/DASA, which would own 57.9% of Airbus, would dominate the company and it insisted on a 50/50 split. However, the issue was resolved in January 1999 when BAe abandoned talks with DASA in favour of merging with Marconi Electronic Systems to become BAE Systems. Then in 2000 three of the four partner companies (DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, successor to Deutsche Airbus; Aérospatiale-Matra, successor to Sud-Aviation; and CASA) merged to form EADS, simplifying the process. EADS now owned Airbus France, Airbus Deutschland and Airbus España, and thus 80% of Airbus Industrie. BAE Systems and EADS transferred their production assets to the new company, Airbus SAS, in return for shareholdings in that company.

Development of the A380

Main article: Airbus A380

In the summer of 1988 a group of Airbus engineers led by Jean Roeder began working in secret on the development of an ultra-high-capacity airliner (UHCA), both to complete its own range of products and to break the dominance that Boeing had enjoyed in this market segment since the early 1970s with its 747. The project was announced at the 1990 Farnborough Air Show, with the stated goal of 15% lower operating costs than the 747-400. Airbus organised four teams of designers, one from each of its partners (Aérospatiale, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace, British Aerospace, CASA) to propose new technologies for its future aircraft designs. In June 1994 Airbus began developing its own very large airliner, then designated as A3XX. Airbus considered several designs, including an odd side-by-side combination of two fuselages from the Airbus A340, which was Airbus’s largest jet at the time. Airbus refined its design, targeting a 15 to 20 percent reduction in operating costs over the existing Boeing 747-400. The A3XX design converged on a double-decker layout that provided more passenger volume than a traditional single-deck design.

Five A380s were built for testing and demonstration purposes. The first A380 was unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse on 18 January 2005, and its maiden flight took place on 27 April 2005. After successfully landing three hours and 54 minutes later, chief test pilot Jacques Rosay said flying the A380 had been “like handling a bicycle”. On 1 December 2005, the A380 achieved its maximum design speed of Mach 0.96. On 10 January 2006, the A380 made its first transatlantic flight to Medellín in Colombia.

Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world, entered commercial service in 2007.

On 3 October 2006, CEO Christian Streiff announced that the reason for delay of the Airbus A380 was the use of incompatible software used to design the aircraft. Primarily, the Toulouse assembly plant used the latest version 5 of CATIA (made by Dassault), while the design centre at the Hamburg factory were using the older and incompatible version 4. The result was that the 530 km of cables wiring throughout the aircraft had to be completely redesigned. Although no orders had been cancelled, Airbus still had to pay millions in late-delivery penalties.

The first aircraft delivered was to Singapore Airlines on 15 October 2007 and entered service on 25 October 2007 with an inaugural flight between Singapore and Sydney. Two months later Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choong Seng said that the A380 was performing better than both the airline and Airbus had anticipated, burning 20% less fuel per passenger than the airline's existing 747-400 fleet. Emirates was the second airline to take delivery of the A380 on 28 July 2008 and started flights between Dubai and New York on 1 August 2008. Qantas followed on 19 September 2008, starting flights between Melbourne and Los Angeles on 20 October 2008.

Sale of BAE stake

On 6 April 2006 plans were announced that BAE Systems was to sell its 20% share in Airbus, then "conservatively valued" at €3.5 billion (US$4.17 bn). Analysts suggested the move to make partnerships with U.S. firms more feasible, in both financial and political terms. BAE originally sought to agree on a price with EADS through an informal process. Due to lengthy negotiations and disagreements over price, BAE exercised its put option which saw investment bank Rothschild appointed to give an independent valuation.

Singapore Airlines A380 departs from London Heathrow Airport

In June 2006 Airbus was embroiled significant international controversy over its announcement of further delays in the delivery of its A380. Following the announcement the value of associated stock plunged by up to 25% in a matter of days, although it soon recovered afterwards. Allegations of insider trading on the part of Noël Forgeard, CEO of EADS, its majority corporate parent, promptly followed. The loss of associated value was of grave concern to BAE, press described a "furious row" between BAE and EADS, with BAE believing the announcement was designed to depress the value of its share. A French shareholder group filed a class action lawsuit against EADS for failing to inform investors of the financial implications of the A380 delays while airlines awaiting deliveries demanded compensation. As a result EADS chief Noël Forgeard and Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert announced their resignations on 2 July 2006.

On 2 July 2006 Rothschild valued BAE's stake at £1.9 billion (€2.75 billion), well below the expectation of BAE analysts and even EADS. On 5 July BAE appointed independent auditors to investigate how the value of its share of Airbus had fallen from the original estimates to the Rothschild valuation; however in September 2006 BAE agreed the sale of its stake in Airbus to EADS for £1.87 billion (€2.75 billion, $3.53 billion), pending BAE shareholder approval. On 4 October shareholders voted in favour of the sale, leaving Airbus entirely owned by EADS.

2007 restructuring

On 9 October 2006 Christian Streiff, Humbert's successor, resigned due to differences with parent company EADS over the amount of independence he would be granted in implementing his reorganisation plan for Airbus. He will be succeeded by EADS co-CEO Louis Gallois, bringing Airbus under more direct control of its parent company.

On 28 February 2007, CEO Louis Gallois announced the company's restructuring plans. Entitled Power8, the plan would see 10,000 jobs cut over four years; 4,300 in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in the UK and 400 in Spain. 5,000 of the 10,000 would be at sub contractors. Plants at Saint Nazaire, Varel and Laupheim face sell off or closure, while Meaulte, Nordenham and Filton are "open to investors". As of 16 September 2008 the Laupheim plant has been sold to a Thales-Diehl consortium to form Diehl Aerospace and the operations at Filton have been sold to GKN of the United Kingdom. The announcements have resulted in Airbus unions in France planning to strike, with German Airbus workers possibly following.

At the end of 2009, another bold project was launched. The Airbus Finance Improvement & Transformation (AFIT) initiative has been established as a platform to drive continuous improvement across Finance and beyond. During the AFIT Kick-Off Meeting, Harald Wilhelm, Airbus CFO, explained that this new challenging program will contribute to achieve the vision of a streamlined and harmonised Finance Function. To reach this objective AFIT will be focused on four improvement areas: Performance Management and Operational Reporting, Business Partnership and Anticipation, Accounting / Controlling Process and Tools, Airbus Military Roadmap.

Civilian products

Airbus A320, the first model in the A318, A319, A320 and A321 range of airliners

Airbus A340-600, a long-range four-engined widebodied airliner

The Airbus product line started with the A300, the world's first twin-aisle, twin-engined aircraft. A shorter, re-winged, re-engined variant of the A300 is known as the A310. Building on its success, Airbus launched the A320 with its innovative fly-by-wire control system. The A320 has been, and continues to be, a great commercial success. The A318 and A319 are shorter derivatives with some of the latter under construction for the corporate biz-jet market (Airbus Corporate Jet). A stretched version is known as the A321 and is proving competitive with later models of the Boeing 737.

The longer-range widebody products, the twin-jet A330 and the four-engine A340, have efficient wings, enhanced by winglets. The Airbus A340-500 has an operating range of 16 700 kilometres (9000 nautical miles), the second longest range of any commercial jet after the Boeing 777-200LR (range of 17 446 km or 9420 nautical miles). The company is particularly proud of its use of fly-by-wire technologies and the common cockpit systems in use throughout the aircraft family, which make it much easier to train crew.

Airbus is studying a replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed NSR, for "New Short-Range aircraft". Those studies indicated a maximum fuel efficiency gain of 9-10% for the NSR. Airbus however opted to enhance the existing A320 design using new winglets and working on aerodynamical improvements. This "A320 Enhanced" should have a fuel efficiency improvement of around 4-5%, shifting the launch of a A320 replacement to 2017-2018.

In 24 September 2009 the COO Fabrice Bregier stated to Le Figaro that the company would need from €800million to €1billion over six years to develop the new aircraft generation and preserve the company technological lead from new competitors like C919, scheduled to operate by 2015-2020.

In July 2007, Airbus delivered its last A300 to FedEx, marking the end of the A300/A310 production line. Airbus intends to relocate Toulouse A320 final assembly activity to Hamburg, and A350/A380 production in the opposite direction as part of its Power8 organisation plan begun under ex-CEO Christian Streiff.

Airbus supplied replacement parts and service for Concorde until its retirement in 2003.

(source:wikipedia)