Pakistan’s Airblue expands fleet with Airbus A320

Airblue currently operates six A320 family aircraft and has already carried over a million passengers since operations began two and a half years ago. Airblue hopes to expand routes to international destinations and offer long haul services to the UK in the near future.

The A320 is a member of the most modern and advanced single aisle aircraft family which features fly by wire technology. All new aircraft are fitted with advanced systems to help reduce maintenance and spares costs.

Louis Gallois, Airbus President and CEO and Co-CEO of EADS said, "The purchase decision by Airblue reflects the technological superiority of the A320, also providing a larger and more comfortable cabin and more onboard baggage space per passenger as well as being about eight per cent cheaper to operate than the competition," he said.

The A320 is the world's most popular single aisle aircraft. In 2005, it outsold the competition by almost two to one wining 65% of worldwide orders in this sector. Regionally, the A320 is operated by around 75 per cent of the regions airlines.

The A320 has the widest single aisle fuselage on the market, and was designed to optimize revenue through cabin flexibility and passenger comfort. Typically the A320 can seat 150 passengers in two classes or up to 180 in single class operation. The aircraft has a range of up to 5,700 km/3,000 nm.

All members of the A320 Family share the same Type Rating. This allows pilots to fly all of them and a single team of mechanics to maintain the fleet, keeping maintenance and training costs down. This helps make the A320 cheaper to operate than the competition.

Uniquely, the A320 Family offers a containerised cargo system which is compatible with the world wide standard wide-body system.

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