In September 1967, the German, French and British Governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a European collaborative commercial airliner.
Despite the British Government's withdrawal from the project, British interest was maintained by Hawker Siddeley Aviation. In 1978, the British Government rejoined the programme when British Aerospace purchased a 20% stake in the consortium. Airbus Industrie has gone on to develop a whole family of aircraft. On 4 October 2006, BAE Systems sold its share in Airbus Industrie to EADS.
