A310 Technology

Abstract

Designed to serve short to medium ranges (up to 3,300 nm), the Airbus Industrie A310 achieves optimum performance on routes requiring a capacity of 200–265 passengers. It is notable that some 80% of airlines' short to medium range network consists of operations over sectors up to 1,500 nm and over these distances the A310 will have 22% lower fuel consumption per seat than competing wide bodies and 7% lower than semi‐wide bodied aircraft. The A310 is a logical extension of the company's products that will fill the gap between the large narrow‐bodied types such as the Boeing 757, and the A300. Formally launched in July, 1978, design and development work on the new aircraft has now been completed and it will commence ground testing before the end of this year. First flight of the A310 is scheduled for March, 1982, and initial entry into service with Swissair and Lufthansa will be in March, 1983.

Citation

FORD, T. (1982), "A310 Technology", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 16-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb035781