The Airbus A320 family are narrow-body airliners designed and produced by Airbus.

The A320
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 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 in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009;
and in Mobile, Alabama in the United States since April 2016.
The twinjet has a six-abreast cross-section and is powered by either CFM56 or IAE
V2500 turbofans, except the CFM56/PW6000 powered A318. The family pioneered the use of
digital fly-by-wire and side-stick flight controls in airliners. Variants offer maximum take-off
weights from 68 to 93.5 t (150,000 to 206,000 lb), to cover a 5,740–6,940 km (3,100–
3,750 nmi) range. The 31.4 m (103 ft) long A318 typically accommodates 107 to 132
passengers. The 124-156 seats 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 are business jet versions.
In December 2010, Airbus announced the re-engined A320neo (new engine option), which
entered service with Lufthansa in January 2016. With more efficient turbofans and improvements
including sharklets, it offers up to 15% better fuel economy. Earlier A320s are now
called A320ceo (current engine option).
In October 2019, it surpassed the Boeing 737 to become the highest-selling airliner. As of
January 2020, a total of 9,273 aircraft had been delivered to more than 330 operators
including low-cost carriers, with 8,815 aircraft in service. American Airlines was the largest
operator with 413 aircraft.[b] Orders pending were 6,249, for a total of 15,522 orders. The
A320ceo initially competed with the 737 Classic and the MD-80, then their successors, the 737
Next Generation and the MD-90, while the 737 MAX is Boeing's response to the A320neo.

Contents

• 1Development
o 1.1Origins
o 1.2Design effort
o 1.3National shares
o 1.4Launch
o 1.5Introduction
o 1.6Stretching the A320: A321
o 1.7Shrinking the A320: A319
o 1.8Second shrink: A318
o 1.9Production
o 1.10A320 Enhanced
▪ 1.10.1Improvements
▪ 1.10.2Sharklets
▪ 1.10.3Cabin
o 1.11New Engine Option
• 2Design
o 2.1Airframe
o 2.2Flight deck
o 2.3Fly-by-wire
o 2.4Engines
• 3Operational history
o 3.1Competition
o 3.2Maintenance
o 3.3Replacement airliner
• 4Variants
 o 4.1Overview
o 4.2A320
o 4.3A321
o 4.4A319
▪ 4.4.1A319CJ
o 4.5A318
o 4.6Freighter conversion
• 5Operators
o 5.1Orders and deliveries
• 6Accidents and incidents
• 7Specifications
o 7.1Engines
• 8See also
• 9Notes
• 10References
• 11External links

Development[edit]
Origins[edit]

The Joint European Transport JET2 concept

When Airbus designed the Airbus A300 during the late 1960s and early 1970s, it envisaged a
broad family of airliners with which to compete against Boeing and 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.[7] 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.[8] A 10th variation, conceived in 1973, later the
first to be constructed, was designated the A300B10.[9] 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.[10] 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.[10][11] It was abandoned
after intruding on A310 specifications.[11] VFW-Fokker, Dornier and Hawker Siddeley worked on a
number of 150-seat designs.[10]
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,[12] 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[edit]
The six-abreast cabin cross section

In June 1977 a new Joint European Transport (JET) programme was set up, established
by BAe, Aerospatiale, Dornier and Fokker.[13][14] It was based at the then British
Aerospace (formerly Vickers) site in Weybridge, Surrey, UK. Although the members were all of
Airbus' partners, they regarded the project as a separate collaboration from Airbus.[15] This project
was considered the forerunner of Airbus A320, encompassing the 130- to 188-seat market,
powered by two CFM56s.[10] It would have a cruise speed of Mach 0.84 (faster than the Boeing
737).[10] 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 JET programme, Derek Brown.[11] The group
looked at three different variants, covering the 125- to 180-seat market,
called SA1, SA2 and SA3.[10] Although unaware at the time, the consortium was producing the
blueprints for the A319, A320 and A321, respectively.[11] 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.[10][15] However, works proceeded,
and the German carrier would eventually order the twinjet.
In February 1981 the project was re-designated A320,[11] with efforts focused on the former 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 over 5,280 or 3,440 km (2,850 or
1,860 nmi) using fuel from wing fuel tanks only.[11] The Dash 200 had centre tank activated,
increasing fuel capacity from 15,590 to 23,430 L (3,429 to 5,154 imp gal).[16] They would measure
36.04 and 39.24 m (118 ft 3 in and 128 ft 9 in), respectively.[11] 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).[10] Although heavier, this allowed to compete more effectively with the 737. The A320 wing
went through several stages of design, finally settling on 33.91 m (111 ft 3 in).[16]

National shares[edit]
The UK, France and West Germany wanted the responsibility of final assembly and the
associated duties, 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.[15]
France was willing to commit to a launch aid, or subsidies, while the Germans were more
cautious.[15] The UK government was unwilling to provide funding for the tooling requested
by British Aerospace (BAe) and estimated at £250 million, it was postponed for three years.[16] On
1 March 1984 the government and the manufacturer agreed that £50 million would be paid
whether the A320 would fly or not, while the rest would be paid as a levy on each aircraft sold.[15]

Launch[edit]
The A320 first prototype at the 1988 Farnborough Airshow

The programme was launched on 2 March 1984.[17] At this time, Airbus had 96 orders.[18]:48 Air
France was its first customer with a "letter of intent" for 25 A320s and an option for 25 more at
the 1981 Paris air show.[19] In October 1983, British Caledonian placed seven firm orders,
bringing total orders to more than 80.[20] Cyprus Airways became the first to place order for
V2500-powered A320s in November 1984, followed by Pan Am with 16 firm orders and 34
options in January 1985, then Inex Adria.[18]:49 One of the most significant orders was
when Northwest Airlines placed an order for 100 A320s in October 1986, later confirmed at the
1990 Farnborough Airshow, powered by CFM56 engines.[18]:49–50
During the A320 development programme, Airbus considered propfan technology, backed
by Lufthansa.[15] At the time unproven, it was essentially a fan placed outside the engine nacelle,
offering speed of a turbofan at turboprops economics; eventually, Airbus stuck with turbofans.
Power on the A320 would be supplied by two CFM56-5-A1s rated at 25,000 lbf (111.2 kN).[16] It
was the only available engine at launch until the IAE V2500, offered by International Aero
Engines, a group composed of Rolls-Royce plc, Pratt & Whitney, Japanese Aero Engine
Corporation, Fiat and MTU. The first V2500 variant, the V2500-A1, has a thrust output of
25,000 pounds-force (110 kN),[21] hence the name. It is 4% more efficient than the CFM56, with
cruise thrust specific fuel consumption for the -A5 at 0.574 and 0.596 lb/lbf/h (16.3 and
16.9 g/kN/s) for the CFM56-5A1.[22]

Introduction[edit]

The first A320 was delivered to Air France on 28 March 1988, the early A320-100 has no wingtip fences

In the presence of then French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and the Prince and Princess of
Wales, the first A320 was rolled out of the final assembly line on 14 February 1987 and made its
maiden flight on 22 February in 3 hours and 23 minutes from Toulouse.[23] The flight test
programme took 1,200 hours on 530 flights. European Joint Aviation Authorities certification was
delivered on 26 February 1988.[18]:50 The first A320 was delivered to Air France on 28 March
1988.[24]