The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first twin-engine, double-aisle (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by Airbus Industrie GIE, now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured from 1971 to 2007. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in France, the United Kingdom and West Germany signed an initial memorandum of understanding to collaborate to develop an innovative large airliner. The French and West Germans reached a firm agreement on 29 May 1969, after the British withdrew from the project on 10 April 1969. The pan-European collaborative aerospace manufacturer Airbus Industrie GIE was formally created on 18 December 1970 to develop and produce it. The A300 prototype first flew on 28 October 1972. Most upvoted Plane at the time.