Is the Airbus A370 a real aircraft?
No. In Aviation & Real-World Flying, the Airbus A370 is not a real, certified Airbus airliner. Airbus has built the A320, A330, A350 and A380 families, but not an A370. When people say A370, they usually mean a fictional simulator aircraft or they have confused it with the A380.
Why do people think the Airbus A370 exists?
People often assume Airbus model numbers fill every gap, but they do not. There is no rule that an A350 must be followed by an A360 and then an A370. Airbus skips numbers, uses internal project labels, and only some designations become real production aircraft.
A mistake we see constantly in our community is treating any Airbus-style name as official. It is not. No airline operates a certificated Airbus A370, and Airbus has never had a commercial airliner in service under that name.
Is the Airbus A370 just another name for the A380?
No. The real aircraft is the A380.
That confusion happens because Airbus used the project label A3XX before the aircraft entered service as the A380, and because fictional designs sometimes borrow nearby numbers. If you want the real double-deck Airbus in a simulator, choose an add-on clearly labelled as an A380-800 for FSX in Qantas colours, not A370.
| Name | Real Airbus type? | What it usually refers to |
|---|---|---|
| A370 | No | Fictional or concept aircraft, often in sim downloads |
| A380 | Yes | Airbus's real double-deck four-engine airliner |
| A3XX | No public model name | Development label used before the A380 name |
Our background article on the Airbus A380 is useful if you want to separate the real superjumbo from invented variants.
Why do some flight simulator downloads call it A370?
Because flight sim libraries have always included what-if aircraft as well as real ones.
Designers sometimes invent plausible Airbus-style designations for concept aircraft, especially when they want a familiar look without tying the model to a certified airframe. One example is this fictional FSX A370 double-decker twinjet. It is a simulator concept aircraft, not evidence of a real Airbus programme.
The configuration is often the giveaway. A real A380 is a four-engine airliner. Many so-called A370 designs are twinjets or mix features from several Airbus families, which tells you they are fantasy or speculative designs rather than real manufacturer products.
How can you tell if an Airbus type is real?
You can usually tell from the designation, the layout and whether it matches known airline service.
- Look for a full real-world model name: designations such as A320-200, A330-300, A350-900 and A380-800 fit Airbus's real naming pattern.
- Check the engine layout: if a double-deck giant has two engines and is called A370, it is fictional. The real A380 has four engines.
- Watch for concept wording: names including concept, double-decker twinjet, what-if or fantasy usually mean the aircraft was invented for sim use.
- Prefer recognised types for realism: when browsing our freeware aircraft and add-on library, real-world packages normally use exact aircraft and airline designations.
So if your question is simply whether the Airbus A370 is a real aircraft, the answer is no. In practice, people almost always mean either the Airbus A380 or a fictional aircraft made for flight simulation.