The Airbus A310 was the second aircraft that Airbus put into service, taking flight on 3 April 1982. It first entered service with Swissair the following year.

A glass cockpit operated by two crew members, eliminating the need for a flight engineer, came as standard. There were 255 aircraft produced and a few remain in service today with airlines such as Air Transat and Mahan Air.

Airbus A310 Video

Following on from last week’s video about the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is another from the same people. Just under 7 minutes in length, it tells the story about the Airbus widebody.

Originally called the Airbus A300B10, it is an evolution of the original Airbus A300. With a shorter fuselage, it carried less passengers and the long range version flew further.

The cockpit was similar to the Airbus A300-600 which meant crews could easily switch between the two variants, saving money for airlines. It was also the first aircraft delivered to an airline behind the Iron Curtain, with East Germany’s Interflug taking delivery in 1988.

Conversion of the Airbus A310 also took place, with the Luftwaffe and Royal Canadian Air Force using them as refueling tankers. Canada calls it the CC-150 Polaris in their military.

Overall Thoughts

Flying on the Airbus A310 is very similar to any aircraft. I had the pleasure of flying this aircraft with Royal Jordanian many years ago, where their Crown Class service impressed me immensely.

Major operators included Lufthansa, Pan Am, Singapore Airlines, Middle East Airlines, KLM, Kuwait Airways and Air France. If you travelled during the 1980s and 1990s, chances are good that you got to fly on one.

Have you flown on the Airbus A310? What do you remember about it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Perry Hoppe via Airliners.net