The international European airbus, called the A-300B, is under construction and on schedule at the Aerospatiale assembly plant in Toulouse. Manufacture of the aircraft, a high-density short-haul twin-jet transport, is divided between major aircraft companies in France, Holland, West Germany and the United Kingdom. Spain has also joined the consortium through the CASA Company which is making the tailplane and some of the aircraft's doors.

One major potential buyer of the aircraft, British European Airways, is shortly to send a team to Toulouse to examine the airbus. So far, the aircraft hasn't yet decided upon it's requirements for a wide-bodied jet for the late 1970's, but they have already been looking at one of the A-300B's biggest potential rivals -- the Rolls Royce-powered Lockheed Tristar.