Airbus A320
Illustrative image; it may differ from the actual aircraft.The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus, and is the best-selling airliner ever built. The A320 aircraft programme was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the family was followed by the stretched A321 (first delivered in January 1994), the shorter A319 (April 1996), and the shortest variant, the A318 (July 2003). Final assembly takes place in Toulouse in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama, in the United States since April 2016. The twinjet has a six-abreast economy cross-section and came with either CFM56-5A or -5B, or IAE V2500 turbofan engines, except the A318.
Specifications
Figures for the A320-200 variant, the most representative of the family
The type first flew in 1987 (39 years ago) · About 7,000 units built · Still in production
Figures for the type, not for this particular aircraft: each variant and each configuration changes something. They are shown in both systems used in aviation.
The story of the type
Development
Origins
When Airbus designed the A300 during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it envisaged a broad family of airliners with which to compete against Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, two established US aerospace manufacturers. From the moment of formation, Airbus had begun studies into derivatives of the Airbus A300B in support of this long-term goal. Prior to the service introduction of the first Airbus airliners, engineers within Airbus had identified nine possible variations of the A300 known as A300B1 to B9. A 10th variation, conceived in 1973, later the first to be constructed, was designated the A300B10. It was a smaller aircraft which would be developed into the long-range Airbus A310. Airbus then focused its efforts on the single-aisle market, which was dominated by the 737 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9.
Plans from a number of European aircraft manufacturers called for a successor to the relatively successful BAC One-Eleven, and to replace the 737-200 and DC-9. Germany's MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm), British Aircraft Corporation, Sweden's Saab and Spain's CASA worked on the EUROPLANE, a 180- to 200-seat aircraft. It was abandoned after intruding on A310 specifications. VFW-Fokker, Dornier and Hawker Siddeley worked on a number of 150-seat designs.
The design within the JET study that was carried forward was the JET2 (163 passengers), which then became the Airbus S.A1/2/3 series (Single Aisle), before settling on the A320 name for its launch in 1984. Previously, Hawker Siddeley had produced a design called the HS.134 "Airbus" in 1965, an evolution of the HS.121 (formerly DH.121) Trident, which shared much of the general arrangement of the later JET3 study design. The name "Airbus" at the time referred to a BEA requirement, rather than to the later international programme.
Design effort
In June 1977 a new Joint European Transport (JET) programme was set up, established by British Aerospace (BAe), Aerospatiale, Dornier and Fokker. It was based at the then BAe (formerly Vickers) site in Weybridge, Surrey, UK. Although the members were all Airbus' partners, they regarded the project as a separate collaboration from Airbus. This project was considered the forerunner of Airbus A320, encompassing the 130- to 188-seat market, powered by two CFM56s. It would have a cruise speed of Mach 0.84 (faster than the Boeing 737). The programme was later transferred to Airbus, leading up to the creation of the Single-Aisle (SA) studies in 1980, led by former leader of the JET programme, Derek Brown. The group looked at three different variants, covering the 125- to 180-seat market, called SA1, SA2 and SA3. Although unaware at the time, the consortium was producing the blueprints for the A319, A320 and A321, respectively. The single-aisle programme created divisions within Airbus about whether to design a shorter-range twinjet rather than a longer-range quadjet wanted by the West Germans, particularly Lufthansa. However, works proceeded, and the German carrier would eventually order the twinjet.
In February 1981 the project was re-designated A320, with efforts focused on the blueprint formerly designated SA2. During the year, Airbus worked with Delta Air Lines on a 150-seat aircraft envisioned and required by the airline. The A320 would carry 150 passengers 5,280–3,440 km (3,280–2,140 mi; 2,850–1,860 nmi) using fuel from wing fuel tanks only. The −200 had the centre tank activated, increasing fuel capacity from 15,590 to 23,430 L; 4,118 to 6,190 US gal (3,429 to 5,154 imp gal). They would measure 36.04 and 39.24 m (118 ft 3 in and 128 ft 9 in) respectively. Airbus considered a fuselage diameter of "the Boeing 707 and 727, or do something better" and settled on a wider cross-section with a 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) internal width, compared to Boeing's 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in). Although heavier, this allowed the A320 to compete more effectively with the 737. The A320 wing went through several design stages, eventually measuring 33.91 m (111 ft 3 in).
National shares
The UK, France and West Germany wanted responsibility over final assembly and its associated work, known as "work-share arguments". The Germans requested an increased work-share of 40%, while the British wanted the major responsibilities to be swapped around to give partners production and research and development experience. In the end, British work-share was increased from that of the two previous Airbuses.
France was willing to commit to launch aid, or subsidies, while the Germans were more cautious. The UK government was unwilling to provide funding for the tooling, requested by BAe and estimated at £250 million; it was postponed for three years. On 1 March 1984, the British government and BAe agreed that £50 million would be paid, whether the A320 flew or not, while the rest would be paid as a levy on each aircraft sold.
In 1984, the program cost was then estimated at £2 billion ($2.8 billion) by Flight International, equivalent to £7 billion today.
Launch
The programme was launched on 2 March 1984. At the time, Airbus had 96 orders.
Variants
The baseline A320 has given rise to a family of aircraft which share a common design but with passenger capacity ranges from 100, on the A318, to 220, on the A321. They compete with the 737, 757, and 717. Because the four A320 variants share the same flight deck, all have the same pilot type rating. Today all variants are available as corporate jets. An A319 variant known as A319LR was also developed. Military versions like A319 MPA also exist. American Airlines is the largest airline operator of the A320 family of aircraft, with 392 aircraft in service as of 30 September 2017.
Technically, the name "A320" only refers to the original mid-sized aircraft, but it is often informally used to indicate any of the A318/A319/A320/A321 family. All variants have had 180-minute ETOPS (extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards) certification capacity since 2004 (EASA) and 2006 (FAA).
The Airbus A318 is the smallest member of the Airbus A320 family. The A318 carries up to 132 passengers and has a maximum range of 5,700 km (3,600 mi; 3,100 nmi). The aircraft entered service in July 2003 with Frontier Airlines, and shares a common type rating with all other Airbus A320 family variants, allowing existing A320 family pilots to fly the aircraft without the need for further training. It is the largest commercial aircraft certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency for steep approach operations, allowing flights at airports such as London City Airport. Relative to other Airbus A320 family variants, the A318 has sold in only small numbers with total orders for only 80 aircraft placed as of 31 October 2015.
In 2018, the A318 list price was US$77.4 million.
The A319 is 3.73 m (12 ft 3 in) shorter than the A320. Also known as the A320M-7, it is a shortened, minimum-change version of the A320 with four frames fore of the wing and three frames aft of the wing removed. With a similar fuel capacity as the A320-200 and fewer passengers, the range with 124 passengers in a two-class configuration extends to 6,650 km (3,590 nmi; 4,130 mi), or 6,850 km (3,700 nmi; 4,260 mi) with the "sharklets". Four propulsion options available on the A319 are the 23,040–24,800 lbf (102.5–110.3 kN) IAE V2500, or the 22,000–27,000 lbf (98–120 kN) CFM56. Although identical to those of the A320, these engines are derated because of the A319's lower MTOW. When configured with a single overwing exit per side, seating capacity is limited to 145, while this is increased to 160 with two overwing exits.
The A319 was developed at the request of ILFC. The A319's launch customer, in fact, was ILFC, which had placed an order for six A319s by 1993. Anticipating further orders by Swissair and Alitalia, Airbus decided to launch the programme on 10 June 1993. Final assembly of the first A319 began on 23 March 1995 and it was first introduced with Swissair in April 1996. The direct Boeing competitor is the Boeing 737-700.
A total of 1,460 of the A319ceo model have been delivered with 24 remaining on order as of 30 September 2017. A 1998 A319 was $35 million new; the value was halved by 2009, and reached scrap levels by 2019. In 2018, the A319 list price was US$92.3 million.
The A319CJ (rebranded the ACJ319) is the corporate jet version of the A319. It incorporates removable extra fuel tanks (up to six additional centre tanks) which are installed in the cargo compartment, and an increased service ceiling of 12,500 m (41,000 ft). Range with eight passengers' payload and auxiliary fuel tanks (ACTs) is up to 11,000 kilometres (6,900 mi). Upon resale, the aircraft can be reconfigured as a standard A319 by removing its extra tanks and corporate cabin outfit, thus maximising its resale value. It was formerly also known as the ACJ, or Airbus Corporate Jet, while starting with 2014 it has the marketing designation ACJ319.
The aircraft seats up to 39 passengers, but may be outfitted by the customers into any configuration. Tyrolean Jet Services Mfg. GmbH & CO KG, MJET and Reliance Industries are among its users.
Where this type is seen
From our logbook: 588 aircraft of this type documented at 129 airports.
A count of our own aircraft profiles, year by year, from the public United States flight records: it reflects what we have documented, not the airport’s total traffic.
Overview and history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · technical figures from the manufacturer’s published specifications and standard aviation references
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This page was last updated on October 10, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 10). Airbus A320. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a320
MLA
“Airbus A320.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 10 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/model/a320. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
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BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_model_a320,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Airbus A320}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-10},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a320},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a320}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/model/a320 |title=Airbus A320 |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-10 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}