"Setting the standards" This philosophy is used by everyone at Airbus since 1967 and continues to hold true to this day. By "Setting the standards" they mean anticipating the market, offering innovation and greater value, focusing on passenger comfort and creating a true family of aircraft. Airbus, the first truly European company, is one of only two aircraft manufacturers in the market for large commercial airliners. The central office for Airbus is located in Toulouse, France; just being in Europe creates a large advantage in the airline industry. European aircraft builders have a proven track record of innovation, being the first to produce a jetliner, the first turbojet engine, and the first successful supersonic airliner. .
Because of the size of all of the U.S. companies there was no manufacture in Europe that had the resources to compete alone, so European aircraft manufactures had to co-operate to compete. By overcoming national divides, sharing development costs, collaborating in the interests of a greater market share, and even agreeing on a common set of measurements and a common language, Airbus changed it's face and now became a big player in the market. .
The pioneers who started Airbus had an image of what the airline industry would become and what it was lacking at the time. What the industry was lacking at the time was an aircraft that had the ability to carry 220 to 300 passengers in comfort. Then in 1969 they came out with the program for the A300 it held 226 passengers was the first twin aisle, twin-engine jetliner that provided passengers with a real wide-body comfort and allowed operators the flexibility of seating passengers in three classes. It also had the LD 3 containers side by side in the underfloor cargo compartment witch became industry standard. The airlines had been wanting this for quite some time but no manufacturer could supply it.