Airbus Industrie was formally established in 1970.
The organisation began as a European consortium intended to compete with established American aircraft manufacturers. France, West Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom were involved in the early Airbus effort, although the participating companies and ownership arrangements changed over time.
Airbus’s first commercial aircraft, the A300, entered service later in the 1970s and demonstrated that a European manufacturer could build and sell a wide-body airliner internationally. Airbus Industrie was initially a consortium rather than a conventional single corporation, which is why its early history is sometimes described differently from the later Airbus company structure.
In 2000, the major partners were combined into Airbus SAS, under the newly created European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, now known as Airbus SE. Thus, 1970 refers to the founding of Airbus Industrie, not the later corporate reorganisation.