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GV Doors of hangar open to reveal airbus
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GTV Airbus in hangar
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SV Engine (2 shots)
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SV Steps being moved away
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GV Airbus rolled out of hangar (4 shots)
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SV Workers watching
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LV & SV Airbus parked on tarmac (3 shots)
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GV Company emblem with flags five nations building aircraft
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GTV INT PAN Airbuses under construction in hangar (3 shots)
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AIRBUS IN HANGAR: AIRCRAFT ROLLED OUT AND PARKED TARMAC: OTHER AIRBUSES UNDER CONSTRUCTION.




Initials BB/1745 DF/PW/BB/1800



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The fist A-3008 European Airbus was rolled-out of its production hanger at Toulouse in France on Tuesday (August I).

The airliner is now undergoing engine and taxi tests. It is due to make its first test flight in a few weeks.

The Airbus is a short to medium range aircraft built to cater for the ??? air travel market. It will be able to carry more than 300 passengers in its wide-bodies fuselage.

More than GBP200 million Sterling has been spent on development coasts in a joint project by aircraft manufacturers in France, Britain, West Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Airbus Industries, the overall management company, has taken firm orders as thirteen of the aircraft and options for eighteen more.

The firms involved in the project are Hawker Siddeley of Britain which more the wings; Aeraspatiale of France, the cockpit and fuselage centre; Fokker of the netherlands, the moving control surfaces; Messerachitt-Bolkew-Blohm of West Germany, the main fuselage sections; and Cars of Spain, the tail-plane assembly. The engines are supplied by General Electric of the U.S.

The Airbus is assembled at the Aerospatiale plant in Toulouse, where for are under construction.

SYNOPSIS: The doors of a Toulouse hangar opened this week to reveal the first completed European Airbus. With this aircraft, European planemakers hope to break into the American dominated market for large passenger aircraft.

More than two hundred million pounds sterling have been invested in the joint project by aircraft manufacturers in France, Britain, West Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

The roll-out of the first aircraft was a proud moment for the ten thousand people working on the project.

The Airbus is now undergoing engine and taxi tests at Toulouse and is expected to make its first flight in a few weeks. The aircraft should be commercial service by 1974. The Airbus makers say they expect a demand for eight-hundred of the aircraft by the end of this decade. So far they have firm orders for thirteen and options of eighteen more.

The wide fuselage will carry more than three hundred passengers at a lower cost per mile on short routes than existing large aircraft. The makers also claim that the Airbus will be much quieter than other big jets.

A company emblem lined with the flags of five nations emphasises the international co-operation behind the Airbus project. The parts are built in several European aircraft plants and flown to Toulouse for final assembly. Already three other Airbuses are taking shape.