Airbus A319

The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of 3,700 nmi (6,900 km; 4,300 mi). Final assembly of the aircraft takes place in Hamburg, Germany and Tianjin, China.

The A319 is a shortened-fuselage variant of the Airbus A320 and entered service in April 1996 with Swissair, around two years after the stretched Airbus A321 and eight years after the original A320. The aircraft shares a common type rating with all other Airbus A320 family variants, allowing existing A320 family pilots to fly the aircraft without the need for further training.

In December 2010, Airbus announced a new generation of the A320 family, the re-engined A320neo family (new engine option). The similarly shortened fuselage A319neo variant offers new, more efficient engines, combined with airframe improvements and the addition of winglets, named "sharklets" by Airbus. The aircraft promises fuel savings of up to 15%. The A319neo sales are much lower than other A320neo variants, with around 1% of orders by June 2020. The previous A319 generation was retroactively renamed the A319ceo (current engine option).

As of August 2025^[update], a total of 1,518 Airbus A319 aircraft have been delivered, of which 1,264 are in service. In addition, another 24 airliners are on order. American Airlines is the largest operator with 133 A319ceo in its fleet.

The first member of the A320 family was the A320 which was launched in March 1984 and first flew on 22 February 1987. The family was extended to include the stretched A321 (first delivered 1994), the shortened A319 (1996), and the further shortened A318 (2003). The A320 family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems, as well as side stick controls, in commercial aircraft. The A319 was developed at the request of Steven Udvar-Hazy, the former president and CEO of ILFC according to The New York Times.

The A319 design is a shortened fuselage, minimum change derivative of the A320 with its origins in the 130- to 140-seat SA1, part of the Single-Aisle studies. The SA1 was shelved as the consortium concentrated on its bigger siblings. After healthy sales of the A320/A321, Airbus re-focused on what was then known as the A320M-7, meaning A320 minus seven fuselage frames. It would provide direct competition for the 737-300/-700. The shrink was achieved through the removal of four fuselage frames fore and three aft the wing, cutting the overall length by 3.73 metres (12 ft 3 in). Consequently, the number of overwing exits was reduced from four to two. High-density A319s, such as 156-seat aircraft used by EasyJet, retain four overwing exits. The bulk-cargo door was replaced by an aft container door, which can take in reduced height LD3-45 containers. Minor software changes were made to accommodate the different handling characteristics; otherwise the aircraft is largely unchanged. Power is provided by the CFM56-5A or V2500-A5, derated to 98 kN (22,000 lbf), with option for 105 kN (24,000 lbf) thrust.

With virtually the same fuel capacity as the A320-200 and fewer passengers, the range with 124 passengers in a two-class configuration extends to 6,650 km (3,590 nmi), or 6,850 km (3,700 nmi) with the "Sharklets". The A319's wingspan is wider than the aircraft's overall length.

Airbus began offering the new model from 22 May 1992, and the A319's first customer was ILFC, who signed for six aircraft. Anticipating further orders by Swissair and Alitalia, Airbus launched the $275 million (€250 million) programme on 10 June 1993. On 23 March 1995, the first A319 underwent final assembly at Airbus's German plant in Hamburg, where the A321s are also assembled. It was rolled out on 24 August 1995, with the maiden flight the following day. The certification programme took 350 airborne hours involving two aircraft; certification for the CFM56-5B6/2-equipped variant was granted in April 1996, and the qualification for the V2524-A5 started the following month.