Which Is Airbus’ Most Successful Aircraft?

Airbus has had a very long and successful evolution and has greatly helped the aviation industry evolve and reach its current levels of technology. The path has been long since the first Airbus A300‘s first flight 50 years ago. Since then the European manufacturer has produced 11 aircraft types in 24 variations, sold to 445 customers. However which is Airbus’ most sold and successful aircraft type?

Which is Airbus’ Most Sold Aircraft Type?

Unsurprisingly Airbus’ most sold aircraft is not one of it’s largest planes, but one of its smaller and more nimble ones. It is in fact the Airbus A320.

Adding up orders for both the A320ceo (current engine option) the newer A320neo (new engine option) variants the aircraft type the exceed 7,700 units. A truly staggering amount of planes. Specifically the orders split in:

• 4756 orders for the A320ceo versions
• 4079 orders for the A320neo versions

As for the A320ceo version just 4 are yet to be delivered with over 4299 of the type still active to date. The neo version of the aircraft is still not even half way through it’s backlog of orders. Only 2167 A320neo have been delivered out of the 4079 so far ordered.

The A320 a Workhorse for Short Haul Operations

Its success is all the more clear considering how it is used worldwide. Its characteristics make it a go no brainer for both low cost and full service airlines. It has become, over the years, one of the most common planes to see in any airport.

It’s small enough to land in all kind of airports, however its also big enough to have a decent capacity in both 1 class and 2 class configurations.

That being said the most common configuration in which you’ll come across this aircraft type is 1 class. In fact it is the aircraft of choice for some of the largest low cost carriers in the world.

The Largest A320 Operator

As said above, the aircraft is clearly a favorite of many low cost carriers around the world. So its quite unsurprising that the largest operator of the aircraft type is none other than a budget airline.

The Chinese airline China Eastern is as a matter of fact the largest operator of A320 (neo and ceo versions). At the moment of writing this post China Eastern:

• Operates 172 Airbus A320ceo.
• Operates 108 A320neo.
• Has on order other 21 A320neo.