Country of origin:

International Consortium

Description:

Medium to long-range commercial airliner

Power Plant:

Two 50,000 lbst General Electric CF5-80-C2 turbofans

Specifications:

History:

The A310 was designed to meet world airline requirements for a large capacity short-range airliner, using as many components of the A300 series as possible. Three prototypes were built, the first (F-WZLI) being flown on 3 April 1982, the remaining two following on 13 May 1982 and 5 August 1982 respectively. Certification was obtained later that year, and deliveries commenced to Lufthansa and Swissair.

The A310 had a similar fuselage to the A300 but of reduced length, providing standard accommodation for 210 to 255 passengers, although up to 282 could be carried in a high-density layout. A new advanced-technology wing of reduced span with new and smaller tail surfaces was fitted, and the undercarriage and engine pylons were re-designed. Engines fitted to customer specification were provided by General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls Royce.

Two basic variants were available, the A310-200 series and A310-300 series. The former had a max take-off weight of 142,000 kg (313,055 lb) and had General Electric CF6 engines. The A310-200 series with 48,000 lbst Pratt & Whitney JT9D 7R4D1 engines was known as the A310-220. The prototype of the A310-300 series was flown on 8 July 1985 with JT9D engines, the first A310-300 with Genral Electric CF6-80 engines flying on 6 September 1985. The Pratt & Whitney 4000 engined model first flew on 8 November 1986. The A310-300 had an extra 7,000 kg (15,430 lb) of fuel in the tailplane and had a max take-off weight of 153,000 kg (337,305 lb). Other variants of the type were the A310C convertible and the A310F all-freight models.

First of the type registered in this region was A310-304 VH-YMI (c/n 425) which, for a period in 1991, was leased by Compass Airlines of Australia pending delivery of the company’s fleet of A300-605Rs from Polaris Leasing. This aircraft was built in 1986 as an A310-322 (F-WWCP). Subsequently, it was converted to a Model A310-304 for Wardair in Canada (C-FWDX). It was obtained by the International Aeroplane Company and was leased to Compass. After the period of the lease it was exported to Canada as C-FWDX in January 1992.

The type has been a regular visitor to Australian airports and visiting A310s have included aircraft from Aeroflot, Air India, Kenya Airways, the Royal Thai Air Force, the German Luftwaffe, and Canadian Armed Forces. The type was also offered to the RAAF by Raytheon E-Systems to meet airborne early warning and control requirements.

Three A310s have been operated by Air Niugini, and others have regularly visited the eastern seaboard of Australia on scheduled services. A310-324F P2-ANA (c/n 378) was operated from 27 January 1989 to 1 April 1991, and again from 28 November 1992 to 20 September 2005 when it was delivered to Federal Express as N803FD.

Airbus A310-324 (c/n 549) was operated from 13 December 1990 to 30 July 2000 when it was delivered to Pacific Airlines as S7-RGP. It was placed in storage for a period at Mojave in 2003 as N101MP before going to Federal Express in 2004 as N804FD, before again being placed in storage.

A further A310-304 CS-TKI (c/n 448) was leased from White of Lisbon, Portugal from 15 December 2007 to 31 May 2008, and again from 4 October 2011 to 17 December 2011. It carried the titles of both White and Air Niugini and entered service on 13 December 2007 flying from Port Moresby, PNG to Brisbane, QLD.

Production of the A310 concluded in 1998 after 256 examples had been delivered.