Wide-body Aircraft - History

History

The Bristol Brabazon was a widebody transatlantic design that first flew in 1949 but never reached production. Following the success of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 in the late 1950s, airlines began seeking larger aircraft to meet the rising global demand for air travel. Engineers were faced with many challenges as airlines demanded more passenger seats per aircraft, longer ranges and lower operating costs.

Early jet aircraft such as the 707 and DC-8 seated passengers along either side of a single aisle, with no more than six seats per row. Larger aircraft would have to be longer, higher (such as a double deck), or wider in order to accommodate a greater number of passenger seats. Engineers realized having two decks created difficulties in meeting emergency evacuation regulations, with the technology available at that time. They opted for a wider fuselage as one solution (the 747, and eventually the DC-10 and L-1011). By adding a second aisle, the wider aircraft could accommodate as many as 10 seats across.

The engineers also opted for creating "stretched" versions of the DC-8 (61, 62 and 63 models), as well as longer versions of the B-707 (-320B and 320C models), B-727 (-200 model) and DC-9 (-30, -40, and -50 models), all of which were capable of accommodating more seats than their shorter predecessor versions. The full length double-deck solution had to wait until the twenty-first century, in the form of the Airbus A380.

The widebody age began in 1970 with the entry into service of the first widebody airliner, the four-engined, double-deck Boeing 747. New trijet widebody aircraft soon followed, including the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar. The first widebody twinjet, the Airbus A300, entered service in 1974.

After the success of the early widebody aircraft, several successors came to market over the next two decades, including the Boeing 767, Airbus A330-A340 Series and the Boeing 777. In the jumbo category, the capacity of the Boeing 747 was not surpassed until October 2007, when the Airbus A380 entered commercial service with the nickname Superjumbo.