The
worlds most popular single-aisle aircraft, the A320 Family, has
achieved over 50 million take offs and landings since the first model,
the A320, entered commercial service in 1988. Over this period, A320
Family aircraft have carried in excess of five billion people. With ten
take-offs every minute, they have become a familiar sight at airports
and in our skies.
One
of our A320 Family aircraft takes off every six seconds somewhere
around the world and they have carried more than five billion people,
which is a huge achievement, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating
Officer, Customers. We are investing at least 100 million euros a year
in the A320 Family in order to maintain it as the worlds most modern
and fuel efficient aircraft family that will continue to bring people
together for the decades to come.
The
A320 Family has firmly established itself as market leader with all
kinds of airlines, such as low cost, network or charter operators and in
all regions of the world. Painted in some 250 different airline
colours, A320 Family aircraft can be found 365 days a year at the
worlds busiest and largest airport hubs. There are ten operators today
with more than 100 A320 Family aircraft in their fleets. In contrast,
A320 Family aircraft also operate at smaller airports and even in some
of the most remote areas of the globe such as the Kingdom of Bhutan in the Eastern Himalayas thanks to their unique versatility.
This aviation success story can be partly attributed to Airbus 100 million euro annual investment that keeps the A320 Family technology state of the art, maintaining it as the most fuel efficient and modern aircraft family in its category.
One
illustration of the A320 continuous improvements are the new
fuel-saving Sharklet wing tip devices launched by Airbus at the end of
2009. These devices will enhance the eco-efficiency and payload-range
performance of the A320 Family even further and are expected to reduce
the fuel consumption by at least 3.5 per cent over longer sectors. This
corresponds to an annual CO2 reduction of around 700 tonnes
per aircraft. Starting with the A320, the Sharklets will be available as
an option on A320 Family models from the end of 2012.
Airbus
is fully committed to maintaining the A320 Family at the top of the
single-aisle aircraft market and to ensuring that the best keeps getting
better.
The
A320 Family (A318, A319, A320 and A321) is recognised as the benchmark
single-aisle aircraft family. With over 6,500 aircraft sold, and more
than 4,300 aircraft delivered to some 310 customers and operators
worldwide, the A320 Family is the worlds best-selling single-aisle
aircraft family.
A320 Family tops 50 million flights