The Airbus A320 family is a series of
narrow-body airliner
A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width.
In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with mult ...
s developed and produced by
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...
.
The A320 was launched in March 1984,
first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
.
The first member of the family was followed by the longer A321 (first delivered in January 1994), the shorter A319 (April 1996), and the even shorter A318 (July 2003).
Final assembly takes place in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
in France;
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in Germany;
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
in China since 2009; and in
Mobile, Alabama in the United States since April 2016.
The
twinjet
A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. Fuel efficien ...
has a six-abreast cross-section and is powered by either
CFM56
The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...
or
IAE V2500
The IAE V2500 is a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan engine built by International Aero Engines (IAE) which powers the Airbus A320 family, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Embraer C-390 Millennium.
The engine's name is a combination of the Rom ...
turbofans, except the CFM56/
PW6000
The Pratt & Whitney PW6000 is a high-bypass turbofan jet engine designed for the Airbus A318 with a design thrust range of .
Design and development
Pratt & Whitney designed the engine with minimum complexity to significantly reduce maintenance ...
powered A318.
The family pioneered the use of digital
fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control ...
and
side-stick
__NOTOC__
A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equ ...
flight controls in airliners.
Variants offer
maximum take-off weight
The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to take off, due to structural or other limits. The analogous ...
s from , to cover a
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
.
The 31.4 m (103 ft) long
A318 typically accommodates 107 to 132 passengers.
The 124-156 seat
A319 is 33.8 m (111 ft) long.
The A320 is 37.6 m (123 ft) long and can accommodate 150 to 186 passengers.
The 44.5 m (146 ft)
A321 offers 185 to 230 seats.
The
Airbus Corporate Jets
Airbus Corporate Jets, a business unit of Airbus SAS and part of Airbus, markets and completes corporate jet variants from the parent's airliner range. Types include the A318 Elite to the double/triple-decked Airbus A380 Prestige. Following t ...
are business jet versions.
In December 2010, Airbus announced the
re-engine
The aircraft design process is a loosely defined method used to balance many competing and demanding requirements to produce an aircraft that is strong, lightweight, economical and can carry an adequate payload while being sufficiently reliable to ...
d
A320neo
The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus.
The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...
(''new engine option)'', which entered service with
Lufthansa in January 2016.
With more efficient turbofans and improvements including
sharklets
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
, it offers up to 15% better
fuel economy.
Earlier A320s are now called A320ceo (''current engine option'').
American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
is the largest A320 operator with 459 aeroplanes in its fleet. In October 2019, the A320 family surpassed the
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
to become the highest-selling airliner.
, a total of 16,622 A320s had been
ordered and 10,474
delivered
''Delivered'' is a 1998 thriller/crime film directed by Guy Ferland. A pizza boy finds a murdered man at his next delivery and becomes the murderer's next intended victim.
External links
*
*
1998 films
1998 crime thriller films
1998 comed ...
, of which 9,824 aircraft were in service with more than 340 operators. The global A320 fleet had completed more than 157 million flights over 289 million block hours since its entry into service.
The A320ceo initially competed with the
737 Classic
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...
and the
MD-80, then their successors, the
737 Next Generation and the
MD-90
The McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) MD-90 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner developed by McDonnell Douglas from its successful model MD-80. The airliner was produced by the developer company until 1997 and then by Boeing Comme ...
, while the
737 MAX
The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with th ...
is Boeing's response to the A320neo.
Development
Origins
When
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...
designed the
A300 during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it envisaged a broad family of airliners with which to compete against
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
and
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
(later
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...
), 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
The Airbus A310 is a wide-body aircraft, designed and manufactured by Airbus Industrie, then a consortium of European aerospace manufacturers.
Airbus had identified a demand for an aircraft smaller than the A300, the first twin-jet wide-bod ...
. Airbus then focused its efforts on the single-aisle market, which was dominated by the
737 and
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
Afte ...
.
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
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
and DC-9.
Germany's MBB (''
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm''),
British Aircraft Corporation, Sweden's
Saab
Saab or SAAB may refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB
** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB
* Saab Automobile, a fo ...
and Spain's
CASA worked on the ''EUROPLANE'', a 180- to 200-seat aircraft.
It was abandoned after intruding on A310 specifications.
[ ]VFW-Fokker
VFW-Fokker GmbH was a joint venture of Fokker and Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) started in 1969 that, from then on, controlled the ERNO initiative.
The Entwicklungsring Nord (Northern development circle) — abbreviated ERNO — was a ...
, 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
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marcon ...
(BAe), Aerospatiale, Dornier and Fokker. It was based at the then BAe (formerly Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...
) site in Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
, Surrey, UK. Although the members were all of 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 CFM56
The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...
s. 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
Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...
on a 150-seat aircraft envisioned and required by the airline. The A320 would carry 150 passengers over using fuel from wing fuel tanks only.[ The -200 had the centre tank activated, increasing fuel capacity from .] They would measure , 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 internal width, compared to Boeing's .] Although heavier, this allowed to compete more effectively with the 737. The A320 wing went through several design stages, eventually measuring .[
]
National shares
The UK, France and West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
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 £ billion today.
]
Launch
The programme was launched on 2 March 1984. At the time, Airbus had 96 orders.[ ]Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
was its first customer to sign a "letter of intent" for 25 A320s and options for 25 more at the 1981 Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
. In October 1983, British Caledonian
British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
placed seven firm orders, bringing total orders to more than 80. Cyprus Airways
Cyprus Airways (Greek: Κυπριακές Αερογραμμές) is the flag carrier airline of Cyprus, based at Larnaca International Airport. It commenced operations on 1 June 2017.
History
Cyprus Airways resumed operations in 2016 after win ...
became the first customer to place an order for V2500-powered A320s in November 1984, followed by Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
with 16 firm orders and 34 options in January 1985, and then Inex Adria.[ One of the most significant orders occurred when ]Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...
placed an order for 100 A320s in October 1986, powered by CFM56 engines, later confirmed at the 1990 Farnborough Airshow
The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
.
During A320 development, Airbus considered propfan
A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed a ...
technology, which was backed by Lufthansa.[ At the time unproven, the technology essentially consisted of a fan placed outside the engine ]nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
, offering turbofan speeds and turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
economics; ultimately, Airbus stuck with turbofans.
Power on the A320 was to be supplied by two CFM56-5-A1s rated at . It was the only engine available until the arrival of the IAE V2500
The IAE V2500 is a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan engine built by International Aero Engines (IAE) which powers the Airbus A320 family, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Embraer C-390 Millennium.
The engine's name is a combination of the Rom ...
, offered by International Aero Engines
IAE International Aero Engines AG is a Zürich-registered joint venture aero-engine manufacturing company.
It was founded during 1983 specifically to develop an aircraft engine to address the 150-seat single aisle aircraft market, the V2500 tu ...
, a group composed of Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...
, Pratt & Whitney, Japanese Aero Engine Corporation
The Japanese Aero Engine Corporation is a consortium of several large Japanese companies (Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that develops and manufactures aero engines.
The joint venture ...
, Fiat and MTU. The first V2500 variant, the V2500-A1, has a thrust output of , hence the name. It is 4% more efficient than the CFM56, with cruise thrust-specific fuel consumption
Thrust-specific fuel consumption (TSFC) is the fuel efficiency of an engine design with respect to thrust output. TSFC may also be thought of as fuel consumption (grams/second) per unit of thrust (newtons, or N), hence ''thrust-specific''. This fig ...
for the -A5 at for the CFM56-5A1.
Entry into service
In the presence of then-French Prime Minister
The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers.
The prime minister i ...
Jacques Chirac and the Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
and Princess of Wales, the first A320 was rolled out of the final assembly line at Toulouse on 14 February 1987 and made its maiden flight
The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets.
The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
on 22 February in 3 hours and 23 minutes. The flight test programme took 1,200 hours over 530 flights. European Joint Aviation Authorities
The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) was an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference representing the civil aviation regulatory authorities of a number of European States who had agreed to co-operate in developing and implemen ...
(JAA) certification was awarded on 26 February 1988.[ The first A320 was delivered to Air France on 28 March, and began commercial service on 8 April with a flight between ]Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
via Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
. In 1988, the clean-sheet aircraft program cost was 5.486 billion French francs
The franc (, ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount ...
.
Stretching the A320: A321
The first derivative of the A320 was the Airbus A321, also known as the ''Stretched A320'', ''A320-500'' and ''A325''.[ Its launch came on 24 November 1988 after commitments for 183 aircraft from 10 customers were secured.] The aircraft was to be a minimally changed derivative, apart from minor wing modifications and the fuselage stretch itself. The wing would incorporate double-slotted flaps and minor trailing edge
The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...
modifications,[ increasing wing area from to .] The fuselage was lengthened by four plugs (two ahead and two behind the wings), making the A321 longer than the A320 overall. The length increase required enlarged overwing exits, which were repositioned in front of and behind the wings. The centre fuselage and undercarriage were reinforced to accommodate an increase in maximum takeoff weight
The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot is allowed to attempt to take off, due to structural or other limits. The analogous ...
of , for a total of .[
Final assembly for the A321 would be, as a first for any Airbus, carried out in Germany (then West Germany). This came after a dispute between the French, who claimed the move would incur $150 million (€135 million) in unnecessary expenditures associated with the new plant,][ and the Germans, who argued that it would be more productive for Airbus in the long run. The second production line was located at ]Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, which would also subsequently produce the smaller Airbus A319 and A318. For the first time, Airbus entered the bond market
The bond market (also debt market or credit market) is a financial market where participants can issue new debt, known as the primary market, or buy and sell debt securities, known as the secondary market. This is usually in the form of bonds, bu ...
, through which it raised $480 million (€475 million) to finance development costs. An additional $180 million (€175 million) was borrowed from the European Investment Bank and private investors.[
The maiden flight of the Airbus A321 came on 11 March 1993, when the prototype, registration F-WWIA, flew with IAE V2500 engines; the second prototype, equipped with CFM56-5B turbofans, flew in May. Lufthansa and ]Alitalia
Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...
were the first to order the stretched Airbuses, with 20 and 40 aircraft, respectively. The first of Lufthansa's V2500-A5-powered A321s arrived on 27 January 1994, while Alitalia received its first CFM56-5B-powered aircraft on 22 March.
Shrinking the A320: A319
The A319 was the following derivative of the baseline A320. The design was a "shrink", with its origins in the 130- to 140-seat SA1, part of the Single-Aisle studies, which had been shelved as the consortium focused on its bigger siblings.[ After healthy sales of the A320/A321, Airbus focused once more on what was then known as the ''A320M-7'', meaning A320 ''minus seven fuselage frames''.][ It would provide direct competition for the ]737-300
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, ...
/ -700.[ The shrink was achieved through the removal of four fuselage frames fore and three aft of the wing, cutting the overall length by .] Consequently, the number of overwing exits was reduced from four to two. The bulk-cargo door was replaced by an aft container door, which can take in reduced height LD3-45 containers. Minor software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
changes were made to accommodate the different handling characteristics; otherwise the aircraft was largely unchanged. Power is provided by the CFM56-5A, CFM56-5B, or V2500-A5, derated to , with option for thrust.
Airbus began offering the new model from 22 May 1992, with the actual launch of the $275 million (€250 million) programme occurring on 10 June 1993; the A319's first customer was ILFC
The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US.
It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General El ...
, which signed for six aircraft. On 23 March 1995, the first A319 underwent final assembly at Airbus' German plant in Hamburg, where A321s were also assembled. It was rolled out on 24 August 1995, with the maiden flight taking place the following day.[ The certification programme took 350 airborne hours involving two aircraft. Certification for the CFM56-5B6/2-equipped variant was granted in April 1996, and qualification for the V2524-A5 started the following month.][
Delivery of the first A319, to Swissair, occurred on 25 April 1996; it entered service by month's end.][ In January 1997, an A319 broke a record during a delivery flight by flying the great circle route to ]Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
, Manitoba from Hamburg in 9 hours and 5 minutes.[ The A319 has proven popular with low-cost airlines such as ]EasyJet
EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...
, which purchased 172 of them.
Second shrink: A318
The A318 was born out of mid-1990 studies between Aviation Industry Corporation of China
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...
(AVIC), Singapore Technologies Aerospace, Alenia and Airbus on a 95- to 125-seat aircraft project. The programme was called the ''AE31X'', and covered the 95-seat AE316 and 115- to 125-seat AE317.[ The former would have had an overall length of , while the AE317 was longer by , at .] The engines were to be supplied from two Rolls-Royce BR715s, CFM56-9s, or the Pratt & Whitney PW6000;[ with the MTOW of for the smaller version and for the AE317, the thrust requirement were and , respectively.][ Range was settled at and for the high gross weights of both variants.][ Both share a wingspan of ][ and a ]flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...
similar to that of the A320 family. Costing $2 billion (€1.85 billion) to develop, aircraft production was to take place in China.[
Simultaneously, Airbus was developing the Airbus A318. In early 1998, Airbus revealed that it was designing a 100-seat aircraft based on the A320. The AE31X project was terminated by September 1998, and Airbus officially announced the A318][ at that year's Farnborough Airshow.] The aircraft was the smallest in Airbus's product range, and was developed coincidentally at the same time as the largest commercial aircraft in history, the Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
. First called ''A319M5'' in as early as March 1995, it was shorter by ahead of the wing and behind. These cuts reduced passenger capacity from 124 on the A319 to 107 passengers in a two-class layout. Range was , or with upcoming Sharklets
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
.
The 107-seater was launched on 26 April 1999 with the options and orders count at 109 aircraft. After three years of design, the maiden flight took place at Hamburg on 15 January 2002. Tests on the lead engine, the PW6000, revealed worse-than-expected fuel consumption. Consequently, Pratt & Whitney abandoned the five-stage high-pressure compressor (HPC) for the MTU-designed six-stage HPC. The 129 order book for the A318 shrunk to 80 largely because of switches to other A320 family members. After 17 months of flight certification, during which 850 hours and 350 flights were accumulated, JAA certification was obtained for the CFM56-powered variant on 23 May 2003. On 22 July 2003, first delivery for launch customer Frontier Airlines occurred, entering service before the end of the month.
Production
The Toulouse Blagnac final assembly line builds A320s, whereas the Hamburg Finkenwerder final assembly line builds A318s, A319s, and A321s. The Airbus factory in Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
, China assembles A319s, A320s, and A321s; A320s and A321s are also assembled at the Airbus Americas factory in Mobile, Alabama. Airbus produced a total of 42 A320s per month in 2015, and expects to increase to 50 per month in 2017.
As Airbus targets a 60 monthly global production rate by mid-2019, the Tianjin line delivered 51 in 2016 and it could assemble six per month from four as it starts producing A320neos in 2017; 147 Airbus were delivered in 2016 in China, 20% of its production, mostly A320-family, a 47% market share as the country should become the world's largest market ahead of the US before 2027.
In June 2018, along a larger and modernised delivery centre, Airbus inaugurated its fourth Hamburg production line, with two seven-axis robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
to drill 80% of fuselage upper side holes, autonomous
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
mobile tooling platforms and following Design Thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.
Des ...
principles. By January 2019, Mobile was outputting 4.5 A320s per month, raising to five by the end of the year.
In September 2019, Airbus reached a milestone with the delivery of the 9000th A320-family aircraft to Easyjet. In October 2019, Airbus inaugurated a highly automated fuselage structure assembly line for A320 Family aircraft in Hamburg, showcasing an evolution in Airbus' industrial production system. Production rates continue to rise, and Airbus aims to reach a production rate of 63 aircraft per month by 2021, which would result in the 10,000th delivery occurring early that year.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the airline industry due to travel restrictions and a decimation in demand among travelers.
Significant reductions in passenger numbers have resulted in flights being cancelled or planes ...
, demand for new jets was reduced in 2020 and Airbus cut its monthly production from 60 to 40 A320s.
In October 2020, the 500th A320 built in Tianjin, an A320neo, was delivered to China Southern, twelve years after the final assembly line start in 2008.
A320 Enhanced
Improvements
In 2006, Airbus started the A320 Enhanced (A320E) programme as a series of improvements targeting a 4–5% efficiency gain, with large winglet
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
s (2%), aerodynamic refinements (1%), weight savings and a new aircraft cabin
An aircraft cabin is the section of an aircraft in which passengers travel. Most modern commercial aircraft are pressurized, as cruising altitudes are high enough such that the surrounding atmosphere is too thin for passengers and crew to bre ...
.
Engine improvements that reduced fuel consumption by 1% were made to the A320 in 2007 with the CFM56 Tech Insertion and in 2008 with the V2500Select (One).
Sharklets
In 2006, Airbus tested three styles of winglets intended to counteract the wing's lift-induced drag
In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is an aerodynamic drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or ...
and wingtip vortices
Wingtip vortices are circular patterns of rotating air left behind a wing as it generates lift.Clancy, L.J., ''Aerodynamics'', section 5.14 One wingtip vortex trails from the tip of each wing. Wingtip vortices are sometimes named ''trailing ...
more effectively than the previous wingtip fence. The first design type to be tested was developed by Airbus and based on work done by the programme. The second type of winglet incorporated a more blended design and was designed by Winglet Technology, a company based in Wichita, Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
, USA. Two aircraft were used in the flight test evaluation campaign – the prototype A320, which had been retained by Airbus for testing, and a new build aircraft which was fitted with both types of winglets before it was delivered to JetBlue
JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...
.
Despite the anticipated efficiency gains and development work, Airbus announced that those winglets would not be offered to customers, claiming that the weight of the modifications required negated any aerodynamic benefits. On 17 December 2008, Airbus announced it was to begin flight testing an existing blended winglet design developed by Aviation Partners Inc.
Aviation Partners Inc. (API) is a Seattle-based private corporation that specializes in performance-enhancing winglet systems. The corporation was founded in 1991 and is owned by The Washington Companies.
History
API was founded in 1991 by Joe Cl ...
as part of an A320 modernisation programme using the A320 prototype.
Airbus launched the ''sharklet'' blended winglets during the November 2009 Dubai Airshow
The Dubai Airshow ( ar, معرض دبي للطيران) is a biennial air show held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in ...
: installation adds but offers a 3.5% fuel burn reduction on flights over , saving approximately US$220,000 and 700 t of CO2 per aircraft per year. The tall wingtip devices are manufactured by Korean Air
Korean Air Co., Ltd. (), operating as Korean Air (Korean Air Lines before 1984), is the flag carrier of South Korea and its largest airline based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights.
The present-day Korean Air ...
Aerospace Division.
In December 2011, Airbus filed suit in the western district of Texas
The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (in case citations, W.D. Tex.) is a federal district court. The court convenes in San Antonio with divisions in Austin, Del Rio, El Paso, Midland, Pecos, and Waco. It has ju ...
over Aviation Partners
Aviation Partners Inc. (API) is a Seattle-based private corporation that specializes in performance-enhancing winglet systems. The corporation was founded in 1991 and is owned by The Washington Companies.
History
API was founded in 1991 by Joe Cl ...
' claims of infringement of its patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
s on winglet design and construction which were granted in 1993. Airbus' lawsuit seeks to reject responsibility to pay royalties to Aviation Partners for using its designs, despite work performed together with both parties to develop advanced winglets for the Airbus A320neo.
The first sharklet-equipped Airbus A320 was delivered to Indonesia AirAsia
PT Indonesia AirAsia, operating as Indonesia AirAsia, is a low-cost airline based in Tangerang, Indonesia. It operates scheduled domestic, international services and is an Indonesian associate carrier of Malaysian low-fare airline AirAsia. It ...
on 21 December 2012, offering a payload and range increases over the original aircraft specifications.
Cabin
In 2007, Airbus introduced a new enhanced, quieter cabin with better luggage storage and a more modern look and feel, and a new galley that reduced weight, increased revenue space and improved ergonomics and design for food hygiene and recycling. It offered a new air purifier
An air purifier or air cleaner is a device which removes contaminants from the air in a room to improve indoor air quality. These devices are commonly marketed as being beneficial to allergy sufferers and asthmatics, and at reducing or eliminating ...
with filters and a catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an vehicle emissions control, exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalysis, catalyzing a redox chemic ...
, removing unpleasant smells from the air before it is pumped into the cabin, as well as LEDs
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...
for mood lighting and a new passenger service unit
A passenger service unit (PSU) is an aircraft component situated above each row in the overhead panel above the passenger seats in the cabin of airliners. Among other things, a PSU contains reading lights, loudspeakers for announcements, illumina ...
(PSU).
Offering 10% more overhead bin
An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ai ...
volume, more shoulder room, a weight reduction, a new intercom
An intercom, also called an intercommunication device, intercommunicator, or interphone, is a stand-alone voice communications system for use within a building or small collection of buildings which functions independently of the public telephon ...
and in-flight entertainment system, noise reduction and slimmer PSU, the enhanced cabin can be retrofitted. The flight crew controls the cabin through touchscreen displays.
New Engine Option
The A320neo (''neo'' for ''new engine option'') is a development launched on 1 December 2010, making its first flight
The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets.
The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
on 25 September 2014 and introduced by Lufthansa on 25 January 2016. Re-engine
The aircraft design process is a loosely defined method used to balance many competing and demanding requirements to produce an aircraft that is strong, lightweight, economical and can carry an adequate payload while being sufficiently reliable to ...
d with CFM International LEAP
The CFM International LEAP ("Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion") is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by CFM International, a 50–50 joint venture between American GE Aviation and French Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly Snecma). It is the ...
-1A or Pratt & Whitney PW1000G
The Pratt & Whitney PW1000G, also called the Geared Turbofan (GTF), is a high-bypass geared turbofan engine family produced by Pratt & Whitney.
After many demonstrators, the program was launched with the Mitsubishi MRJ's PW1200G in March 2008 ...
engines and with large sharklets, it was designed to be 15% more fuel efficient. Its three variants are based on the previous A319, A320 and A321. Airbus received 6,031 orders by March 2018 and delivered 318 by May 2018. The original family was renamed A320ceo, for ''current engine option''.
Replacement airliner
In 2006, Airbus was studying a future replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed '' NSR'', for "New Short-Range aircraft". The follow-on aircraft to replace the A320 was named ''A30X''. Airbus North America President Barry Eccleston stated that the earliest the aircraft could have been available was 2017. In January 2010, John Leahy, Airbus's chief operating officer-customers, stated that an all-new single-aisle aircraft was unlikely to be constructed before 2024 or 2025.
Design
The Airbus A320 family are narrow-body (single-aisle) aircraft with a retractable tricycle landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
and powered by two wing pylon-mounted turbofan engine
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...
s.
After the oil price rises of the 1970s, Airbus needed to minimise the trip fuel costs of the A320. To that end, it adopted composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials
...
primary structures, centre-of-gravity control using fuel, a glass cockpit ( EFIS) and a two-crew flight deck.
Airbus claimed the 737-300 burns 35% more fuel and has a 16% higher operating cost per seat than the V2500
The IAE V2500 is a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan engine built by International Aero Engines (IAE) which powers the Airbus A320 family, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Embraer C-390 Millennium.
The engine's name is a combination of the Rom ...
-powered A320.
A 150-seat A320 burns of jet fuel over (between Los Angeles and New York City), or per seat with a 0.8 kg/L fuel.
Its wing is long and thin, offering better aerodynamic efficiency because of the higher aspect ratio than the competing 737 and MD-80.
Airframe
The Airbus A320 family are low-wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
s with a conventional empennage
The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third e ...
with a single vertical stabilizer
A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, s ...
and rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
. Its wing sweep
A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigat ...
is 25 degrees. Compared to other airliners of the same class, the A320 features a wider single-aisle cabin of outside diameter, compared to the of the Boeing 737 or 757
757 may refer to:
* Boeing 757: a narrow-body airliner
* AD 757: a year
* 757 BC: a year
* 757 (number): a number
* Area code 757
Image:Area code 757.png, The area colored red indicates the southeast corner of Virginia served by area code 757
po ...
, and larger overhead bins. Its cargo hold can accommodate unit load device
A unit load device (ULD) is a container used to load luggage, freight, and mail on wide-body aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft. It allows preloading of cargo, confidence the containerised load will fit in the aircraft and efficient plann ...
containers.
The A320 airframe includes composite materials and aluminium alloy
An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principa ...
s to save weight and reduce the total number of parts to decrease the maintenance costs. Its tail assembly is made almost entirely of such composites by CASA, which also builds the elevators
An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...
, main landing gear doors, and rear fuselage parts.[
]
Flight deck
The A320 flight deck features a full glass cockpit, rather than the hybrid versions found in previous airliners. It is also equipped with an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) with side-stick controllers. The A320 has an Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitor
An electronic centralised aircraft monitoring (ECAM) or electronic centralized aircraft monitoring is a system that monitors aircraft functions and relays them to the pilots. It also produces messages detailing failures and in certain cases, list ...
(ECAM) to give the flight crew information about all of the systems on the aircraft. The only analog instruments were the radio-magnetic indicator and brake pressure indicator.
Since 2003, the A320 has featured liquid crystal display (LCD) units on the flight deck instead of the original cathode ray tube (CRT) displays. These include both main displays and the backup artificial horizon
The attitude indicator (AI), formerly known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of the smallest or ...
, which also previously had an analog display.
Airbus offers an avionics upgrade for older A320 aircraft, the In-Service Enhancement Package, to keep them updated. Digital head-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
s are available.
The A320 retained the ''dark cockpit'' (where an indicator is off when its system is running; useful for drawing attention to dysfunctions when an indicator is lit) from the A310, the first widebody designed to be operated without a flight engineer and influenced by Bernard Ziegler, first Airbus CEO Henri Ziegler
Henri Ziegler CVO, CBE (18 November 1906 in Limoges – 24 July 1998, in Paris) was one of the founders of Airbus and its first president.
Life and legacy
An engineer, graduate of the École Polytechnique and of "Sup'Aéro" (the national a ...
's son.
Fly-by-wire
The A320 is the world's first airliner with digital fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control ...
(FBW) flight control system
A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system consists of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircraft's direction in flight. Aircraft ...
: input commands through the side-stick
__NOTOC__
A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equ ...
are interpreted by flight control computers and transmitted to flight control surface
Aircraft flight control surfaces are aerodynamic devices allowing a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's flight attitude.
Development of an effective set of flight control surfaces was a critical advance in the development of aircraft. Ea ...
s within the flight envelope protection
Flight envelope protection is a human machine interface extension of an aircraft's control system that prevents the pilot of an aircraft from making control commands that would force the aircraft to exceed its structural and aerodynamic operatin ...
; in the 1980s the computer-controlled dynamic system of the Dassault Mirage 2000
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''A ...
fighter cross-fertilised the Airbus team which tested FBW on an A300. At its introduction, fly-by-wire and flight envelope protection was a new experience for many pilots.
All following Airbuses have similar human/machine interface and systems control philosophy to facilitate cross-type qualification with minimal training. For Roger Béteille
Roger Béteille (28 August 1921 – 14 June 2019) was a French aeronautical engineer and businessman. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of the company, he is known for his contributions towards Airbus, which contributed towards the airline ...
, then Airbus president, introducing fly-by-wire with flight envelope protection was one of the most difficult decisions he had ever made, explaining: "Either we were going to be first with new technologies or we could not expect to be in the market."[
Early A320s used the Intel 80186 and ]Motorola 68010
The Motorola MC68010 processor is a 16/32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1982 as the successor to the Motorola 68000. It fixes several small flaws in the 68000, and adds a few features.
The 68010 is pin-compatible with the 68000 ...
. In 1988, the flight management computer contained six Intel 80286
The Intel 80286 (also marketed as the iAPX 286 and often called Intel 286) is a 16-bit microprocessor that was introduced on February 1, 1982. It was the first 8086-based CPU with separate, non- multiplexed address and data buses and also the ...
CPUs, running in three logical pairs, with 2.5 megabytes of memory.
Engines
The suppliers providing turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...
engines for the A320ceo family were CFM International with the CFM56, International Aero Engines
IAE International Aero Engines AG is a Zürich-registered joint venture aero-engine manufacturing company.
It was founded during 1983 specifically to develop an aircraft engine to address the 150-seat single aisle aircraft market, the V2500 tu ...
offering its V2500, and Pratt & Whitney's PW6000
The Pratt & Whitney PW6000 is a high-bypass turbofan jet engine designed for the Airbus A318 with a design thrust range of .
Design and development
Pratt & Whitney designed the engine with minimum complexity to significantly reduce maintenance ...
engines available only for the A318, while for the A320neo family are CFM International LEAP-1A or Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engines.
File:AIR BERLIN (2560829519).jpg, The CFM56
The CFM International CFM56 (U.S. military designation F108) series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of . CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran ...
, with unmixed exhaust, is available on all variants.
File:A320 (6718224553).jpg, The IAE V2500
The IAE V2500 is a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan engine built by International Aero Engines (IAE) which powers the Airbus A320 family, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Embraer C-390 Millennium.
The engine's name is a combination of the Rom ...
, with mixed exhaust, equips the larger variants.
File:Avianca Brazil A318 (PR-AVL) landed at Congonhas-São Paulo International Airport (1) (cropped).jpg, The PW6000
The Pratt & Whitney PW6000 is a high-bypass turbofan jet engine designed for the Airbus A318 with a design thrust range of .
Design and development
Pratt & Whitney designed the engine with minimum complexity to significantly reduce maintenance ...
is available on the smallest A318.
Operational history
The Joint Aviation Authorities
The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) was an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference representing the civil aviation regulatory authorities of a number of European States who had agreed to co-operate in developing and implemen ...
(JAA) issued the type certificate
A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...
for the A320 on 26 February 1988. After entering the market on 18 April 1988 with Air France, Airbus then expanded the A320 family rapidly, launching the 185-seat A321 in 1989 and first delivered it in 1994; launching the 124-seat A319 in 1993 and delivering it in 1996; and launching the 107-seat A318 in 1999 with first deliveries in 2003.
, the global A320 fleet had 99.7 percent operational reliability in the last 12 months and completed more than 157 million flights over 289 million block hours since its entry into service.
Competition
The A320 family was developed to compete with the Boeing 737 Classics (-300/-400/-500) and the McDonnell Douglas MD-80/90 series, and has since faced challenges from the Boeing 737 Next Generation
The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...
(-600/-700/-800/-900) and the 717 during its two decades in service. As of 2010, as well as the 737, the A320 family faces competition from Embraer's E-195 (to the A318), and the CSeries
The Airbus A220 is a family of five-abreast narrow-body airliners by Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. It was originally designed by Bombardier and had two years in service as the Bombardier CSeries.
The program was launched on 13 July 2 ...
being developed by Bombardier to the A318/A319.
Airbus has delivered 8,605 A320 family aircraft since their certification/first delivery in early 1988, with another 6,056 on firm order (as of 31 December 2018). In comparison, Boeing has shipped 10,444 737 series since late 1967, with 8,918 of those deliveries since March 1988,[ and has a further 4,763 on firm order (as of 31 December 2018).][
By September 2018, there were 7,251 A320 family ceo aircraft in service versus 6,757 737NGs, while Airbus expected to deliver 3,174 ]A320neo
The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus.
The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...
s compared with 2,999 Boeing 737 MAX
The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with ...
through 2022.
Airbus sold the A320 well to low-cost startups and offering a choice of engines could make them more attractive to airlines and lessors than the single sourced 737, but CFM engines are extremely reliable.
The six-month head-start of the A320neo allowed Airbus to rack up 1,000 orders before Boeing announced the MAX.
The A321 has outsold the 737-900 three to one, as the A321neo is again dominating the 737-9 MAX, to be joined by the 737-10 MAX.
*
*
Maintenance
A Checks are every 750 flight hours and structural inspections are at six- and 12-year intervals.
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 variants share the same flight deck, all have the same pilot type rating
A type rating is an authorization entered on or associated with a pilot licence and forming part thereof, stating pilot's privileges or limitations pertaining to certain aircraft type. Such qualification requires additional training beyond the s ...
. Today all variants are available as corporate jets. An A319 variant known as A319LR is also developed. Military versions like A319 MPA also exists. American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
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 are able to be ETOPS
ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) coined the acronym for ...
(Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards) certified for 180 minutes since 2004 (EASA
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...
) and 2006 (FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
). With launch of the new Airbus A320neo project, the previous members of the Airbus A320 family received the "current engine option" or "CEO" name.
A318
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 . 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
London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...
. Relative to other Airbus A320 family variants, the A318 has sold in only small numbers with total orders for only 80 aircraft placed .
In 2018, the A318 list price was US$77.4 million.
A319
The A319 is 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 , or with the "Sharklets". Four propulsion options available on the A319 are the IAE V2500, or the CFM56. Although identical to those of the A320, these engines are derated because of the A319's lower MTOW.
The A319 was developed at the request of Steven F. Udvar-Házy, the former president and CEO 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
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
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.]
ACJ319
The A319CJ (rebranded the ACJ319) is the corporate jet version of the A319. It incorporates removable extra fuel tanks (up to six additional center tanks) which are installed in the cargo compartment, and an increased service ceiling of . Range with eight passengers' payload and auxiliary fuel tanks (ACTs) is up to . 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 Jets, 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. The A319CJ competes with other ultralarge-cabin corporate jets such as the Boeing 737-700-based Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and Embraer Lineage 1000, as well as with large-cabin and ultralong-range Gulfstream G650, Gulfstream G550 and Bombardier's Global 6000. It is powered by the same engine types as the A320. The A319CJ was used by the ''Escadron de transport, d'entrainement et de calibration, Escadron de Transport, d'Entraînement et de Calibration'' which is in charge of transportation for France's officials and also by the Flugbereitschaft of the German Air Force for transportation of Germany's officials. An ACJ serves as a presidential or official aircraft of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Slovakia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.
A320
The A320 series has two variants, the ''A320-100'' and ''A320-200''. Only 21 A320-100s were produced.[ These aircraft, the first to be manufactured, were delivered to Air Inter later acquired by Air France and British Airways as a result of an order from ]British Caledonian
British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
made prior to its acquisition.
The primary differences with the -100 were the -200's Wingtip device#Wingtip fence, wingtip fences and increased fuel capacity, providing increased range. Indian Airlines used its first 31 A320-200s with double-bogie main landing gear for airfields with poor runway conditions, which a single-bogie main gear could not manage.
Powered by two CFM56-5s or IAE V2500s with thrust ratings of , the A320's typical range with 150 passengers is 3,300 nmi / 6,100 km. A total of 4,512 of the A320ceo model have been delivered, with 220 remaining on order as of 30 September 2017.[ The closest Boeing competitor is the 737-800.]
In 1988, the value of a new A320 was $30 million, reaching $40 million by the end of the 1990s, a 30% increase lower than the inflation, it dipped to $37 million after 2001, then peaked to $47 million in 2008, and stabilised at $40–42 million until the transition to the A320neo.
In 2018, its list price was US$101.0 million.
A321
As the A320 was beginning operations in 1988, the A321 was launched as its first derivative the same year.[ The A321 fuselage is stretched by , with a front plug immediately forward of wing and a rear plug.][ The A321-100 maximum takeoff weight is increased by to .][ To maintain performance, double-slotted flaps were included, in addition to increasing the wing area by , to .] The maiden flight of the first of two prototypes came on 11 March 1993. The A321-100 entered service in January 1994 with Lufthansa.
As the A321-100 range was less than the A320, development of the heavier and longer range A321-200 began in 1995. The higher range was achieved through higher thrust engines (V2533-A5 or CFM56-5B3), minor structural strengthening, and an increase in fuel capacity with the installation of one or two optional tanks in the rear underfloor hold.[ Its fuel capacity was increased to and its maximum takeoff weight to . It first flew in December 1996 and entered service with Monarch Airlines in April 1997.
The A321's closest Boeing competitors are the Boeing 737NG, 737-900/900ER,][ and the 757-200.] A total 1,562 of the A321ceo model have been delivered, with 231 remaining on order as of 30 September 2017.[ In 2018, the A321 list price was US$118.3 million.]
Other variants (conversions)
Freighter
; A321P2F
A programme to convert A320 and A321 aircraft into Cargo aircraft, freighters was set up by Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH. Airframes would be converted by Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW) in Dresden, Germany, and Zhukovsky (city), Zhukovsky, Russia. The launch customer Cerberus Capital Management, AerCap signed a firm contract on 16 July 2008 to convert 30 of AerCap's passenger A320/A321s into A320/A321P2F (passenger to freighter). However, on 3 June 2011, Airbus announced all partners would end the passenger to freighter programme, citing high demand for used airframes for passenger service.
On 17 June 2015 ST Aerospace signed agreements with Airbus and EFW for a collaboration to launch the A320/A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme.
In August 2019, Qantas Freight, Qantas was announced as the launch operator for the A321P2F converted freighter, for Australia Post, with up to three aircraft to be introduced in October 2020. Titan Airways received their first A321P2F in January 2021 which was converted at Singapore Seletar Airport, the airline has two more A321P2F's that are yet to be converted.
The initial converted aircraft first flew on 22 January 2020, to be delivered to Vallair, and it secured EASA supplementary type certificate in February.
It should replace older converted Boeing 757s with 14 positions on the main deck and 10 on the lower, lifting up to over .
Airbus sees a market for 1,000 narrowbody conversions over the 2020-2040 period. On 27 October 2020, the first A321P2F was delivered to launch operator Qantas Airways, with windows and exit doors removed, and a large hydraulically actuated main cargo door installed.
; A320P2F
After EFW began the first A320 conversion in March 2021, the A320P2F made its maiden three-hour flight on 8 December from Singapore.
The aircraft was first delivered in 2006, and its first cargo operator will be Nairobi-based Astral Aviation from the second quarter of 2022, leased from Middle Eastern lessor Vaayu Group.
The A320P2F received its supplemental type certification at the end of March 2022.
; Cargo
The A320P2F is the best option for express domestic and regional operations. The freighter can accommodate up to 27 metric tonnes over 1,900 nautical miles and offers space for 14 large containers/pallets on the main deck and 10 LD3-type containers on the lower deck.
Airborne Early Warning
The Ministry of Defence (India), Indian Defence Ministry greenlit the modification by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of six Air India A320s into Airborne early warning and control planes for Rs 10,500 crore (US$ million). They are to complement the two Indian-built DRDO AEW&CS, Netra and three Israeli-and-Russian-made EL/M-2075 Phalcon, Phalcons of the Indian Air Force.
Operators
, there were 9,824 A320 family aircraft in commercial service with over 330 operators. The five largest operators were American Airlines, operating 459, China Eastern Airlines with 358, EasyJet 327, China Southern Airlines 309 and IndiGo 260. Aircraft in operation include 58 A318, 1,361 A319 (1,352 ceo + 9 neo), 5,850 A320 (4,303 ceo + 1,547 neo) and 2,555 A321 (1,737 ceo + 818 neo) aircraft. All 2,374 delivered A320neo family aircraft were in service, while 650 A320ceo family aircraft consisting of 22 A318s, 132 A319s, 449 A320s and 47 A321s were out of service through retirement or write-off.[
Air France, British Airways, and Frontier Airlines are the only operators to have operated all four variants of the A320ceo family.][ Middle East Airlines received two milestone aircraft. The first was an A320ceo with manufacturer serial number (MSN) 5,000 on 20 January 2012.] Eight years later, on 9 October 2020, the airline received MSN 10,000, an A321neo, at the celebration of its 75th anniversary.
Orders and deliveries
The A320ceo family was the fastest-selling airliner from 2005 to 2007. Its successor, the A320neo family, improved on this with 1,420 orders and commitments in less than a year in 2011.
In November 2013, the A320 family aircraft reached 10,000 orders.
In October 2019, the A320 family became the highest-selling airliner family with 15,193 orders, surpassing the Boeing 737's total of 15,136.
In August 2021, the A320 family passed the 10,000 delivery mark, 33 years after its introduction, versus 50 years for the Boeing 737, which passed the 10,000 delivery mark in March 2018.
On 16 December 2021, the last member of the A320ceo family, an A321ceo (MSN 10315), was delivered from the assembly line Airbus Mobile in Alabama.
In July 2022, total orders for the A320neo family reached 8,502, exceeding the total orders for the A320ceo family of 8,120.
, a total of 10,616 A320 family aircraft had been delivered, with 20 A320ceos (2 A319s, 11 A320s and 7 A321s) remaining in the backlog. In the first ten months of 2022, Airbus delivered 440 A320 family aircraft, comprising A320neo variants only. The A320 family backlog was over the 6,000 mark again, with A321s accounting for 60% and total orders reached 16,785, whereas cancellations incurred during the Boeing 737 MAX groundings brought total orders for the 737 slightly up to 15,454 aircraft, of which 11,177 had been delivered.
''Data .''
Accidents and incidents
Across the entire A320 family, 160 major aviation accidents and incidents have occurred, including 48 hull loss accidents (the latest being LATAM Perú Flight 2213 on 18 November 2022), for a total of fatalities. The A320 family has experienced 50 incidents in which several Electronic visual display, flight displays were lost.
As of 2015, the Airbus A320 family had experienced 0.12 fatal hull loss accidents for every million Takeoff, takeoffs and 0.26 total hull loss accidents for every million takeoffs.
Specifications
Engines
See also
Notes
References
External links
Official Airbus website of the A320 aircraft family
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Airbus A320 family,
Airbus aircraft, A320
1980s international airliners
Twinjets
Aircraft first flown in 1987
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