Airbus At 50: Stunning Video Of The A350

As we celebrate 50 years since the first flight of the Airbus A300 we have chosen this magnificent video of an Air France A350 which represents the ultimate from the giant European aerospace company that dominates commercial aviation.

Subscribe to the Airlineratings.com newsletter to get the relevant news first

Virgin Australia’s amazing middle-seat lottery

Easyjet brings back the Fearless Flyer course

Fifty years ago Airbus brought together the very best of European aircraft manufacturers to form an irresistible force that has sold over 20,000 airliners and has over 7,000 yet to be delivered.

About AirlineRatings.com

Airlineratings.com was developed to provide everyone in the world a one-stop shop for everything related to airlines, formed by a team of aviation editors, who have forensically researched nearly every airline in the world.

Our rating system is rated from one to seven stars on safety – with seven being the highest ranking. Within each airline, you will find the country of origin, airline code, booking URL and seat map information. The rating system takes into account a number of different factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies, lead associations, as well as the airlines, own safety data. Every airline has a safety rating breakdown so you can see exactly how they rate.

Over 230 of the airlines on the site that carry 99 per cent of the world’s passengers have a product rating. Given that low-cost, regional and full-service carriers are so different we have constructed a different rating system for each which can be found within each airline.

Airlineratings.com has information on over 30 types of aircraft from the latest Boeing 787 to the A380 and smaller jets.

Best of all, there are simple answers to many of the quirky questions including:

• “What are all those noises after takeoff and before landing?”
• “Why do you have to put the window shades up for landing and takeoff?”
• “What is a winglet and what is it for?
• “Why is it so costly to fly short distances?”
• “How often is an aircraft maintained?
• “How strong is a wing?”
• “How do they test aircraft”
• “How often do plane tyres need to be replaced?”