By Robert Wall
LONDON--Almost six years ago an Airbus Group NV A320 jetliner
like the one involved in Sunday's disappearance of an Indonesia
AirAsia flight was thrust into the limelight of aviation
safety.
That day, Jan. 15, 2009, a U.S. Airways A320 jet taking off from
New York's La Guardia Airport lost power in both engines after
encountering a flock of Canada geese. Pilot Chesley "Sully"
Sullenberger landed the plane on the Hudson River. All on board
survived in what has been called the "Miracle on the Hudson."
For Airbus, success with the A320 has lifted the plane maker
from an upstart rival to a head-to-head competitor versus market
leader Boeing Co. Airbus has sold more than 11,000 A320-family
aircraft, which range from the 107-seat A318 to the A321 that is
being upgraded to accommodate as many as 240 passengers.
Two years ago, AirAsia placed an order with Airbus for 100
additional A320 jetliners. The deal cemented a partnership that has
seen one of the world's fastest-growing discount airlines bet big
on the European plane maker.
AirAsia has become the single biggest airline customer for the
A320. The Malaysian budget carrier owns 49% of the Indonesian
airline that operates the A320 that lost contact with air traffic
control Sunday on Flight QZ8501 from Surabaya, Indonesia, to
Singapore, as it was climbing to a higher altitude to avoid poor
weather.
At the end of November, Airbus said it had more than 6,000 of
its single-aisle jets in use with 319 operators. The A320, which
seats up to 180 passengers, is the most popular version, with 3,606
in service at the end of last month.
The last fatal crash of an A320 occurred in 2008 when an XL
Airways Germany plane leased from Air New Zealand crashed into the
Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 27. All seven persons on board the test
flight to evaluate maintenance on the jet died.
French accident investigators said a series of factors caused
the crash, including blockage of some sensors and crew
decisions.
A year earlier, an A320 operated by Brazil's TAM Linhas Aereas
overran the runway on landing at São Paulo airport, killing 187
people on board and a further 12 on the ground. It was the
deadliest accident for the plane type, according to the Flight
Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network.
Airbus's single-aisle jets have among the best accident rates in
commercial airline service. The A320-family suffers about 0.08
crashes per million flights, according to website AirSafe.com. The
crash rate is about the same as for equivalent Boeing narrowbodies,
it said.
Success with the A320 has fueled Airbus's global expansion. The
plane maker, which builds 42 single-aisle jets a month, assembles
the aircraft in Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; and Tianjin,
China. It also is setting up a final assembly line in Mobile,
Alabama.
To meet huge demand--more than 4,800 A320-family jets have yet
to be delivered--Airbus is lifting output to 46 single-aisle jets a
month in 2016, and may eventually increase that rate further.
An upgraded model of the plane, the A320neo with new engines, is
due to be introduced next year. Its production is set to run at
least another 15 years before a completely new replacement
emerges.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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