Anton K - the last A300 delivered to FedEx a year or so ago was an A300-600, as are all A300s built post-1984 if I'm not mistaken. A vastly different beast to the original A300, and one which is still in PAX ops in some numbers (LH, Thai, American, Monarch, etc). There are however, a great many A300B4s still flying around as freight dogs, even with main players such as EAT/DHL etc.
john_tullamarine is right: the number of cycles on an airframe is (as the name implies) a
structural limit independent of the type of operation. The type I fly is limited to 75,000 cycles, regardless of whether it is used for PAX or cargo ops. Because they age well, the manufacturer is studying extending this to 105,000 cycles. So I just might be flying the same type until retirement...
Cheers
