Airbus has been in existence in one form or another for roughly 40 years. It’s first aircraft was the A300 which was designed as a large capacity, short haul aircraft. It was well designed for European routes but US airlines regarded it as a bit undersized and too short ranged for their uses. At that time, US airlines were using Douglas DC-10s and Lockheed L-1011s for those needs.

Finally, Airbus got a toehold here in the US with one major US trunk airline. Can you name the airline and the CEO who agreed to give the A300 a try? The answer is after the fold:

It was Eastern Airlines and Frank Borman, CEO and former US astronaut.  Airbus got them to try 4 A300s by basically letting them have them for free for several months.  The aircraft proved so good, Eastern ordered many more.

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