Airbus A320

Airbus · European Union · first flew 1987 · airliner

The aircraft that brought fly-by-wire and the sidestick to the airline mainstream, the A320 is Europe's answer to the 737 and one of the best-selling jetliners ever built.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	2 × turbofan, wing-mounted
F — Fuselage	37.6 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

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

Spot it by:

Rounded, blunt nose profile
Circular engine intakes
Upright wingtip fences or sharklets

Tell it from the 737 by its rounded, blunter nose and perfectly circular engine inlets, which sit further forward and higher. Older A320s carry small vertical wingtip fences, while newer neos wear tall curved sharklets; the fuselage also sits noticeably higher on its landing gear than a 737.

Specifications

The Airbus A320 has a length of 37.6 m (123 ft).
It has a wingspan of 35.8 m (117 ft).
Its maximum speed is 871 km/h (541 mph).
Typical crew: 2 flight crew.

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

History

Launched in 1984 and first flown in 1987, the A320 was revolutionary as the first airliner with digital fly-by-wire flight controls and a sidestick instead of a yoke. Its wider cross-section and advanced systems won it a vast global order book, founding the A318/A319/A320/A321 family. The re-engined A320neo arrived from the 2010s.

Variants

The family stretches from the rare short A318 and A319 to the standard A320 and the longer A321. The current-generation A320neo and A321neo use new geared-turbofan or LEAP engines and large 'sharklet' wingtips for improved efficiency.

Where you'll see it

The A320 family swarms UK airports as the core fleet of easyJet and British Airways shorthaul, dominating Gatwick, Heathrow and Bristol. Expect them on European city routes, domestic shuttles and Mediterranean leisure flights throughout the day.

In depth

The sidestick was the A320's most visible break with tradition, and it met real resistance in the airline world of the late 1980s. Pilots trained on the large control yokes of earlier jets were unsettled by a small hand controller mounted outboard on the console, with no mechanical linkage to the surfaces and no feedback shared between the two crew positions. The controls do not move in sympathy, so one pilot cannot feel the other's inputs through the stick, a change that demanded new crew coordination habits. Over time, however, the arrangement won out on ergonomics and cockpit space, and the sidestick eventually became the industry standard across the entire Airbus family, vindicating the original design gamble.

Behind the sidestick sits the fly-by-wire flight envelope protection that made the aircraft genuinely novel. The computers impose an angle-of-attack, or alpha, protection that resists a stall by refusing commands that would take the wing beyond a safe angle, and they cap the load factor within defined structural limits. Operationally this means the aircraft can be flown firmly to the edge of its performance in an escape manoeuvre without the crew fearing a stall or an overstress, a philosophy quite distinct from the manufacturer's Seattle rival.

Commercially the type was a runaway success: more than 4,000 A320 CEO aircraft were delivered, flying with over 200 carriers worldwide, which is why the aircraft is so familiar at almost any European field. At the fence, engine choice is a genuine spotting variable. The A320 CEO was offered with either the CFM56-5, whose inlet is a fairly clean circle, or the IAE V2500, which presents a subtly different, slightly more angular nacelle and a distinctive high-pitched whine on the approach. Operators tended to standardise: some fleets are all-CFM, others all-IAE, and knowing a carrier's engine choice can confirm an identification before the registration is readable.

The small vertical tabs at the wingtips, the wingtip fences, are often loosely called winglets but are quite different from the later sharklets. The fence is a modest upper-and-lower vertical surface fitted from the aircraft's early years, whereas the sharklet is a large single upswept blade that appeared much later as a retrofit and build option. A CEO with fences is the classic original silhouette; a CEO with sharklets is a later or upgraded airframe, and the two are easy to separate once the eye knows to look at the tip.

Distinguishing the A320 from its shorter and longer relatives is a matter of counting and measuring. The A319 is visibly shorter, with fewer cabin windows and one fewer door pair; the A321 is markedly longer, carrying an extra pair of doors and additional overwing exits to serve its higher capacity. The A320 sits between them, and its proportions, once learned, anchor the whole family.

The best British and European hunting grounds reflect the type's short-haul dominance. Gatwick at dawn delivers a steady procession of easyJet and other CEOs building up for the day; Heathrow's Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 domestic and short-haul aprons keep a constant flow of BA and partner aircraft; and Malta rewards the patient spotter with an unusually dense mix of operators, where the variety of liveries and the CFM-versus-IAE split make it one of the more instructive places to study the classic A320 at close quarters.

Related aircraft

Compared head-to-head

Boeing 737 vs Airbus A320

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