What was the first Airbus aircraft delivered to an airline?

The Airbus A300 was the first Airbus aircraft delivered to an airline.

The first production A300 was handed over to Air France on 10 May 1974, marking the beginning of Airbus commercial operations. Air France subsequently introduced the aircraft into scheduled passenger service later that year.

The delivery was the culmination of a European cooperation project involving manufacturers from France, West Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. The A300’s two-engine wide-body layout was central to its appeal because it offered substantial capacity without the fuel and maintenance burden of a four-engine aircraft.

Some readers confuse the first delivery with the first flight. The A300 first flew in 1972, nearly two years before Air France received the first production aircraft. The A320, A330 and A310 were later Airbus programs, so none can be the answer to this first-delivery question.