News
Airbus A320 family hits 6,000 deliveries

This handover involved a
Sharklet-equipped A320 received by Air Arabia during a ceremony at
Airbus’ Hamburg, Germany facilities – home to one of three A320 Family
final assembly sites worldwide. The jetliner is the 37th A320 Family
aircraft received by Air Arabia, a leading low cost-carrier in the
Middle East and North Africa regions.

Since the A320’s service entry in 1988, ongoing
improvements to the A320 Family developed by Airbus – including engine
enhancements, aerodynamic refinements such as the incorporation of
Sharklets, and upgrades to its widest-in-class passenger cabin – have
resulted in the world’s best-selling and most modern single-aisle
product line, with more than 10,200 aircraft ordered to date. 

In addition, the company is continuing to apply
innovations to the A320 Family with the A320neo (new engine option) –
which has captured some 60 per cent market share ahead of its 2015
service entry. These jetliners share 95 per cent commonality with
current engine option (CEO) aircraft, while incorporating two new
powerplant choices – CFM International’s LEAP-1A and the PurePower
PW1100G-JM from Pratt & Whitney – along with Sharklets wingtip
devices as standard equipment.  

Composed of the A318, A319, A320 and A321, this
single-aisle product line has established itself with leading airlines,
low-cost carriers, governments and VIP operators around the world.
 These jetliners have been used on services that cover everything from
very short-haul airline routes to intercontinental segments, on
operations from in-city airports to high-altitude airfields, for charter
and special missions with the most discerning passengers – and even
service to an Antarctic ice runway.

As a result of the A320 Family’s continued
popularity in performing these missions, Airbus recently announced the
planned steady ramp-up in single-aisle production from the current rate
of 42 jetliners produced per month to 46 aircraft monthly – which will
be reached in the second quarter of 2016.