5,000th Airbus aircraft to be delivered to Qantas

Airbus will celebrate tomorrow another major milestone in its relatively short but successful existence - the delivery of its 5,000th aircraft, an A330-200, to Australian customer, Qantas, at a special ceremony in Toulouse.

Thirty three years ago, in May 1974, Airbus delivered its very first aircraft, an A300B2, to first operator Air France. Nineteen years later, in 1993, Airbus delivered its first 1,000th aircraft, and it took it another six years to reach the 2000th in 1999. Reflecting its subsequent rapid growth with an expanded aircraft family and more products on offer, the 3,000th Airbus aircraft was delivered in 2002, and only three years later, in September 2005, the 4,000th. It needed only another two years to reach the 5,000th delivery milestone of today. Also, it took Airbus more than 30 years to deliver more than 50 per cent of all airliners of more than 100 seats delivered in one year. This was in 2005, and Airbus continued in the lead since. It also took Airbus some 30 years after its initial creation in 1970 to bypass it main competitor in terms of sales and remain constantly at around half the market share, with more than 50 percent for five years in a row since 2001.

http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pr ... antas.html