IATA 310ICAO A310

Airbus A310

Airbus

TravelerPulse profile

Airbus's versatile wide-body twin for medium to long routes.

First flight

1982

Category

Wide-body jet

Seating

Approximately 220 passengers (two-class)

Range

Up to 9,600 km

Engines

Two turbofan engines; options include Pratt & Whitney JT9D/PW4000 or General Electric CF6-80

Status

In service (limited, primarily freighter and military)

The Airbus A310 is a twin-engine wide-body jet airliner developed as a shorter-fuselage derivative of the A300. Launched in the late 1970s to meet demand for a smaller wide-body aircraft, it seats around 220 passengers in a typical two-class configuration and features a two-crew glass cockpit, making it one of the earliest airliners to eliminate the flight engineer position. The A310 introduced several technological advances, including a new supercritical wing with a higher aspect ratio and advanced composite materials in secondary structures. It proved popular with airlines seeking flexibility on thinner long-haul and medium-haul routes. The aircraft also found considerable success as a freighter and in military tanker and transport roles. Production of the A310 ended in 1998 after 255 aircraft were delivered. While largely retired from major passenger airlines, a number of examples continue to operate as freighters and with smaller carriers, and several air forces operate converted tanker-transport variants.

Notable operators

Major operators included Lufthansa, Air France, Swissair, Singapore Airlines, and Kuwait Airways, with military use by the German, French, and Canadian armed forces.

Notable facts

›First Airbus aircraft with a two-crew cockpit, eliminating the flight engineer.
›Featured an advanced supercritical wing shared with no other Airbus type of the era.
›255 aircraft were built before production ended in 1998.
›The A310 MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) variant serves with several air forces.
›Was the first airliner certified to conduct Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS) 180-minute operations.