Why Did Airbus Build The A330?

The idea of building the Airbus A330 dates back to the mid-1970s when the European planemaker was looking to improve the A300. The concept for the A330 was to build a widebody aircraft that could compete with the Lockheed L-1011 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The program to build a successor to the A300 split into two branches: the A330 and the A340. By the 1980s, Airbus had developed a fly-by-wire system for the A320 family of jets that it wanted to incorporate into the larger planes. Airbus thought that, by doing this, it would give them the upper hand over Boeing when it came to cockpit commonality. By making the flight decks and characteristics the same on all Airbus aircraft, it would allow airlines to cross-train crews quicker.