Airbus A319 (A319)

The Airbus A319 is the A320 shortened by seven frames, 3.73 m in all, to seat around 124 passengers in two classes. Airbus launched it in June 1993 after lessor ILFC committed to the type, and the first aircraft flew from Hamburg on 25 August 1995. Swissair introduced it in April 1996, and it quickly became the family's second-best seller behind the A320 itself.

The design logic was commonality. The A319 kept the A320's wing, engines, landing gear and cockpit, so an airline could add a smaller aircraft to its fleet without new pilots, spares or training, and could swap aircraft between routes as demand shifted. Because it carried the full A320 wing and fuel capacity on a lighter airframe, it also had the longest range in the family, which made it attractive for thin long routes and, in the form of the ACJ319, as a corporate jet able to cross the Atlantic.

Low-cost carriers made it a mass-market aircraft. easyJet ordered 120 in 2002 and eventually flew more than 150, configured with 156 seats and an extra pair of overwing exits, and Frontier, Spirit and US Airways built large American fleets. Mainline carriers used it on their thinnest routes, and Air Canada, Lufthansa, British Airways and Delta all operated dozens.

Its decline came from both ends. From the late 2000s airlines found the A320's extra 30 seats cost almost nothing more to fly, and later the A220 arrived as a purpose-built small aircraft with a lower per-seat cost. The A319neo, launched with the rest of the neo family, attracted only a handful of orders. Production of the A319ceo ended around 2020 after roughly 1,480 deliveries; many are now with second-tier operators or converted for cargo and corporate use.

Shortening the A320 was straightforward structurally: Airbus removed four frames ahead of the wing and three behind, keeping the wing box and centre section unchanged. That left the A319 with the same 35.8 m wing (with Sharklets) and the same engines, de-rated for the lighter weight, so take-off and climb performance is lively and the aircraft is comfortable at short, high-altitude airfields.

The cabin has one overwing exit per side in the standard layout, with a second pair added on high-density aircraft for easyJet and others. The ACJ319 corporate version adds up to six auxiliary fuel tanks in the hold, giving a range beyond 6,000 nautical miles with a small payload. The flight deck and fly-by-wire system are identical to the A320 and A321.

American Airlines operates the largest remaining A319 fleet in the United States, inherited from US Airways, alongside Delta and United; Frontier and Spirit have moved on to larger neos. In Europe British Airways, Lufthansa, easyJet (reducing), Air France and Iberia still fly it on domestic and short international routes, and many have migrated to carriers such as Volotea, Tibet Airlines and Eurowings. Corporate and government ACJ319s fly worldwide. Typical duties are short- and medium-haul routes where 120–150 seats is the right size, often to airports with shorter runways or at altitude.

Inside, an A319 is simply a shorter A320: the same wide cabin, 18-inch seats in a 3-3 layout, the same generous bins. With fewer rows, boarding and deplaning are quick and the cabin feels calm. Because it is light for its wing and engines it climbs briskly and handles turbulence well for a small jet. Airlines that use it as a mainline aircraft usually give it a comfortable layout, while easyJet and similar carriers run 156 seats at tight pitch; check the seat map. The single overwing exit row (two on dense layouts) offers the most legroom. For the best seat, take a window ahead of the wing, where the view is unobstructed and engine noise is lowest; the last row sits hard against the rear galley and lavatories.

The A319 is the stubby one: the short fuselage makes the wing and tail look oversized, and the rear fuselage tapers to the tail cone almost immediately behind the last door. The quick check is the overwing exits: a standard A319 has one small exit per side over the wing, where the A320 has two and the A321 has none. High-density easyJet-style aircraft have two overwing exits, which can cause confusion, so count windows instead: the A319 has noticeably fewer between the doors. Nose, cockpit windows and engine nacelles are identical to the rest of the family.