Commonality has been part of the Airbus vision from the very beginning, says Philippe Jarry, who retired recently as senior vice-president of product policy after serving Airbus for almost 30 years.

"As early as the mid-'70s, Airbus planned a series of derivatives of the original A300 to build a full family of airplanes, short haul, medium haul and long haul," he said. "So commonality has been part of the game since the beginning."

With straightforward strategies and clear objectives, Airbus wanted to offer airlines a full line of products with the most extensive commonality possible to make training, operations and maintenance easier and less expensive.