Airbus A318

Airbus · International (Europe) · first flew 2002 · airliner

The A318 is the smallest member of the A320 family, a shortened single-aisle twinjet nicknamed the 'BabyBus'.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	2 × turbofan, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	Shortest A320-family jet with a stubby, snub-nosed fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Shortest A320-family jet with a stubby, snub-nosed fuselage
Tall vertical fin oversized relative to the short body
Two underwing engines with A320-family wingtip fences

Look for the unusually short fuselage paired with a normal A320 nose and an enlarged tail fin, giving a top-heavy stance. Two underwing turbofans and wingtip fences confirm an A320-family jet, while the stubby length marks it as the A318.

Specifications

The Airbus A318 has a length of 31.44 m (103 ft).
It has a wingspan of 34.1 m (112 ft).
Its maximum speed is 871 km/h (541 mph).
Typical crew: 2 pilots.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in January 2002, it entered service in 2003 with Frontier Airlines. Only around 80 were built, making it the least-sold A320ceo-family variant. A steep-approach-certified version was developed for short, constrained runways.

Variants

It sits alongside the A319, A320 and A321 in the A320ceo family. A corporate A318 Elite was offered, and the steep-approach variant served London City Airport.

Where you'll see it

British Airways famously flew two A318s on an all-business-class 'Club World London City' service from London City to New York JFK from 2009 to 2020, with a westbound stop at Shannon. easyJet never operated the type, standardising instead on the A319, A320 and A321.

Related aircraft

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