Fleet

The Airbus 310 (A310) is a medium-to long-range twin-engine wide body jet airliner.
It is a shortened derivative of the A300, the first twin-engine wide body airliner.

Design and Development

The A310 was a further development of the A300; the aircraft was initially designated the A300B10.
Essentially a “baby” A300, the main differences in the two aircraft are:

• Shortened fuselage: same cross section, providing capacity of about 200 passengers
• Redesigned rear fuselage: altered tapering and moving aft of the rear bulkhead created additional capacity. The redesign was also used for the A300-600 and A330/A340 fuselages.
• Redesigned wing, designed by British Aerospace who rejoined Airbus consortium
• Smaller horizontal tail surface
• Later production A310s are equipped with wingtip fences to help reduce drag.
• Modified undercarriage with carbon brakes fitted as standard.
• Common pylons able to support all type of engines offered for the aircraft.
• In creased used of composite materials in both primary and secondary structure
• Electrically signaled spoilers.
• Integrated drive electrical generators.
• Improved auxiliary power unit.