Because the Airbus A300-600F and Airbus A310F were getting old and companies had stopped ordering them, Airbus decided to make a new freighter plane to replace them. It started offering the aeroplane around the years 2000–2001. The aeroplane was talked about again at the 2006 Farnborough Airshow. Airbus got permission to sell the plane in January 2007 and the first plane came out of the factory on 20 October 2009. The aircraft first flew on 5 November 2009.