Aircraft

Spirit Airlines' 30-A319 deal takes A320 family past 5,000-order mark

By Graham Dunn

European manufacturer Airbus has passed the 5,000-order mark for its A320 aircraft family, following US carrier Spirit Airlines’ recent agreement to take 30 A319s.

Firm orders for the Airbus single-aisle family stand at 5,016. The aircraft has been ordered by, or is in service with, more than 200 customers and the range has completed a combined total of around 50 million flight hours.

“The 5,000th order of our A320 aircraft family marks a historic milestone for Airbus and the aviation industry,” says Airbus chief executive Louis Gallois.

“The programme goes from strength to strength, with the continuing high level of orders giving Airbus an unprecedented backlog of more than 2,000 single-aisle aircraft. It will fill our production lines for many years to come.” The company celebrated the 3,000th delivery earlier this month.

Airbus has just increased the production rate for the type to 32 aircraft a month and this is scheduled to reach 36 aircraft a month by the end of 2008.