The first European wide-body passenger plane, the Airbus A300 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. Formally announced in 1969 and first flying in October 1972, it holds the distinction of being the world’s first twin-engined widebody airliner; it was also the first product of Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers, now known as Airbus. The A300 can typically seat 266 passengers in a two-class layout, with a maximum range of 4,070 nautical miles (7,540 km) when fully loaded, depending on model.
By 1992, the Europeans had gained 30 percent of the aircraft industry.
