WINNING AN AIRLINE MARKET
A first flight attracts attention; an airline order establishes another kind of confidence. Airbus records the Eastern Airlines breakthrough in 1978 as an order for 23 A300B4 aircraft. A US operator accepting the European product gave Airbus an important foothold in a market dominated by established American manufacturers. The transaction helped establish commercial credibility without, by itself, explaining every later success. [12, European collaboration:1978]
Airbus also credits sales director Pierre Pailleret with a central role in Eastern's 1978 and Pan Am's 1984 contracts. Those campaigns introduced the A300 and A310 to more American passengers and operators. The history is therefore not adequately told as the work of one founder or one famous airline executive; engineering, industrial organisation and sustained sales campaigns were complementary contributions. [13, North American contracts]
Bernard Lathiere succeeded Henri Ziegler as managing director of the Airbus consortium. The manufacturer describes a sales strategy that combined early success with Indian Airlines and the Eastern breakthrough, followed by the A310 launch and A300-600 development. Technical leadership needed commercial leadership alongside it: an efficient product still required airlines willing to introduce a new supplier into their fleets. [14, Commercial strategy and programme development]
Fleet decisions involve more than the cruise performance of one aircraft. Reliability, support, crew utilisation, maintenance and financing determine whether an aeroplane fits an airline. A simulator pilot can choose a favourite aircraft without buying its spares inventory. Studying the real fleet logic still helps explain why commonality became such a strong theme across Airbus programmes. [4, General and maintenance-system overview]