Airbus A320: Workhorse of air industry

Airbus A320: Safety is major factor in popularity with air companies

LONDON (CNN) -- The single-aisle, 150-seat Airbus A320, one of which has crashed off Bahrain, is among the most popular jets with the air industry with 1,162 currently in service around the world.

Since it entered commercial service in the late 1980s, the A320 range has been seen as the workhorse of short-haul operators.

As part of deals announced last month, Airbus, the European aircraft maker based in Toulouse, France, UK carrier British Midland is to acquire two A320s, while Scandinavian carrier Finnair ordered four planes.

Two years ago, the U.S. company TWA announced a multi-billion dollar aircraft deal with Airbus from which it ordered 75 new aircraft, including 25 Airbus A320 planes.

A major factor in the popularity and success of the Airbus range of aircraft is its safety record, although there have been recent incidents.

This month the crew of a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 -- much larger than the A320 -- were praised for their actions during a "serious emergency" when part of the landing gear jammed as the plane approached to land at Heathrow Airport, west of London.

All 114 people on board the flight, in 1997, were safely evacuated from the aircraft, with just seven suffering minor injuries.

The UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch said the left landing gear had been jammed by a part of the brake system that came loose after a torque rod pin fell out.

The pin was later found on the runway at Los Angeles airport, from where the A340 had taken off.

In June of this year U.S. federal transportation officials began investigating a near-collision between a US Airways Airbus A320 shuttle and a corporate turboprop at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

The incident occurred after an air traffic controller cleared the turboprop to take off as the Airbus A320 was landing. The planes missed each other by 100 to 300 feet.

In January, a Kenya Airways Airbus A310-300 crashed into the sea off the Ivory Coast killing 169 people. Ten others on board the Lagos-bound flight survived the crash.

That same month, an Airtours Airbus A320 carrying 152 passengers on a flight from Newcastle, in north-east England, to Spain was forced to make an emergency landing at Stansted Airport, 40 miles north of London, when part of an engine casing fell off during take-off.

In December 1998, a Thai Airways A310-200 on a domestic flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani crashed in heavy rain as it prepared to land with the loss of more than 100 people.

Three months before that, a London-bound British Airways Airbus A320 carrying 139 passengers landed safely after a fire broke out in a galley oven.

And in February of that year more than 200 people were killed when a China Air Airbus A300 crashed in Taiwan as it approached Taipey's international aiport.

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