Eligibility requirements for this new certification process include: 1  Written exam. 2  Formal education. 3  Design firm experience. 4  Adherence to a code of ethics.
Airbus began as a consortium (a group) of aircraft makers called Airbus Industrie. Later, in 2001, it became a joint-stock company. It was owned by EADS (80%) and BAE Systems (20%). BAE sold its part of the company to EADS on 13 October 2006, so EADS now completely owns the company.
As of February 2017, Airbus had received 317 firm orders and delivered 208 aircraft; Emirates is the biggest A380 customer with 142 ordered of which 93 have been delivered.