Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium concludes operations

Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium ended operations October 27th, in a pre-coordinated closure that was announced earlier this year, when Lufthansa purchased the airline in March. The airline's services, operations and traffic rights will now be subsumed into Lufthansa's Brussels Airlines subsidiary, along with two aircraft. The remaining aircraft will be transferred to other Thomas Cook airline companies.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 1381 F/F 12/6/10
Condor Berlin D-AICI 1/25/01 - 5/3/13
Condor D-AICI 5/3/13 - 6/25/15
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium OO-TCX 6/25/15 - 10/27/17
[Operated the last flight for the airline HAJ-BRU 10/27/17]

The airline was established in December 2001, with operations commencing in March 2002. Initially tickets could only be purchased as part of a package tour, although seat only purchases were later made possible from January 2004. Apart from the 2003-2004 sub-lease of a Dutchbird 757, the airline's fleet has always consisted of Airbus A320s. 24 have been operated (including a single A319 between 2012-2015) although typically about six on average at any one time at the peak of the summer season.

Thomas Cook Airlines Brussels - Fleet Total (at July 1st 2002-2017)
2002: 4   2010: 7
2003: 7   2011: 7
2004: 6   2012: 6
2005: 5   2013: 5
2006: 6   2014: 7
2007: 6   2015: 6
2008: 6   2016: 5
2009: 6   2017: 5

Electra Airways receives first A320

Electra Airways (Bulgaria) has taken delivery of it's first aircraft, an Airbus A320 MSN 424 LZ-EAA, with which it plans to operate charter flights from Varna. The aircraft, built in 1993, was initially operated by Airtours International (UK), and subsequently by a variety of airlines (see history below).

Airbus A320-231 MSN 424 Electra Airways LZ-EAA

History
F/F 8/13/93 Delivered Kawasaki Leasing 11/10/93 (Stored Toulouse)
Airtours International G-CRPH 4/95 - 5/02
Skyservice (Canada) G-CRPH 5/98 - 5/99
Skyservice (Canada) G-CRPH 2/00 - 3/00
MyTravel Airways G-CRPH 5/02 - 3/08
Thomas Cook Airlines G-CRPH 3/08 - 11/12
Aeolus Air (Gambia) C5-AAR 4/13 - 12/15
Ariana Afghan Airlines C5-AAR 7/13 - 12/15
SEAir International (Philippines) RP-C5323 2/16 - 9/16
Sky Prim Air (Moldova) ER-AXU 10/16 - 12/16
Terra Avia (Moldova) ER-AXU 12/16 - 7/17
Safi Airways (Afghanistan) 2/17 - 6/17
Electra Airways LZ-EAA 8/17 - Current

Spirit Airlines takes delivery of the first US built A320

Spirit Airlines has taken delivery of the first US (Mobile, AL) built Airbus A320. MSN 7724 made it's first flight August 15th, and follows the delivery of 36 A321s already delivered from the facility. All deliveries from Mobile will be for US airlines, most of whom have Airbus narrow body aircraft on order.

Ultra low cost carrier (ULCC) Spirit currently operates 31 x A319, 53 x A320 (including 5 x A320 NEO) and 21 x A321.

Airbus A320-232 MSN 7724 Spirit Airlines N650NK

Airbus deliver first US built A320
Airways Magazine - full report

Friday Feature

The first 1,000 Airbus A320 family aircraft...current status

Airbus A320 MSN 001 F-WWAI June 14th 1987 Paris Le Bourget (the first of many).

Disposition Statistics

It took Airbus over 11 years to deliver the first 1,000 A320 family aircraft, between March 26th 1988 and May 20th 1999. Some 18 years later an additional 6,700 have been delivered, with total deliveries now heading rapidly towards 8,000 units, a remarkable achievement that could not have been envisioned in 1988 (even by Airbus).

This feature takes a look at the disposition of that first 1,000 aircraft, the initial operators of the first 100 delivered, and a photo essay of the oldest A320 still in service (MSN 029).

Of that first 1,000 deliveries: these comprise A319 x 136, A320 x 731 and A321 x 133

A319

132 of the 136 A319s delivered remain in service, 3 are stored, 1 permanently retired.

A320

402 of the 731 A320s delivered remain in service, 87 are stored, 221 permanently retired, 21 written off.

A321

99 of the 133 A321s delivered remain in service, 13 are stored, 19 permanently retired, 2 written off.

Overall, of the 1,000 aircraft, 663 are in service (63%), 103 stored (10%), 241 retired (24%), 23 written off (2%).

276 of the 1,000 aircraft remain in service with their original operators.

The first 100 aircraft delivered by customer

A320-111 MSN 005 Air France F-GFKA [Delivered March 26th 1988, Retired July 2010]

As launch customer, Air France has remained steadfast in it's reliance on the A320 family, one of few airlines to operate all four variants of the family. An early embarrassment was the loss of it's third A320 delivered during an ill advised low field pass at an air show June 26th 1988, just three days after delivery. It continues to refresh it's A320 fleet with new build aircraft, while phasing out older examples.

A320-111 MSN 006 British Airways (British Caledonian) G-BUSB [Delivered March 31st 1988, Retired November 2007]

British Airways also operates all four Airbus A320 family models, but when this first delivery was made, that was an unlikely scenario at the time. Inheriting an order of ten A320s from it's March 31st 1988 acquisition of British Caledonian, it was widely expected that this orphan fleet would not last long at pro-Boeing BA. In the event, the niche fleet survived a full term, and ultimately from late 1999 onwards BA began replacing it's entire Boeing short haul fleet with newly ordered A320 family aircraft.

A320-111 MSN 010 Air Inter F-GGEA [Delivered June 17th 1988, Retired October 2009 (Air France)]

French domestic airline Air Inter acquired A320s (and later A319s and A321s) to replace it's aging fleet of Caravelles and Mercures. Like Air France, the aircraft had a troubled service entry, with the loss of it's fourth aircraft in a crash on approach to Strasbourg January 20th 1992. The airline was acquired and subsumed into Air France January 1st 1996. As of now, just one (of 35) ex-Air Inter A320s (F-GHQM) survives in service with Air France. The majority of A319s, and all A321s remain in service with the carrier.

A320-211 MSN 022 Ansett Airlines VH-HYA [Delivered November 18th 1988, Retired September 2006 (HiFly CS-TQG)]

Ansett was the first airline to receive an A320-200 (only 20 A320-100s were delivered to Air France, Air Inter and British Airways). Distinguished only by it's wingtip fences, this variant, powered by either CFM or IAE engines would remain the baseline model until enhanced winglet equipped (sharklets) models appeared a few years ago, a precursor to the A320 NEO. Ansett enjoyed a decade or so of A320 operations until it's demise March 4th 2002.

A320-231 MSN 043 Adria Airways YU-AOA [Delivered May 16th 1989, Retired September 2010]

Adria dates back to it's creation as Inex-Adria in 1961. Initially operating DC-6Bs, the airline acquired DC-9 jets in 1969, and was an early customer for the MD-80. Some 26 years after the DC-6, the airline became the first airline to operate the IAE powered A320. Having survived the Balkan war, the airline now operates three A319s and ten CRJ-700/900 aircraft from it's Ljubljana base.




A320-231 MSN 028 Cyprus Airways 5B-DAT [Delivered May 19th 1989, Retired October 2004]

Cyprus Airways became the second IAE powered A320 customer, acquiring nine new and five used aircraft. Four A319s and two A321s were also later acquired. The airline ceased operations January 9th 2015.

A320-211 MSN 031 Northwest Airlines N301US [Delivered June 6th 1989, Retired November 2008]

Northwest's order for A320s was Airbus' major breakthrough in the United States, and a shock to the industry at the time, especially to Boeing. Airbus' sales supremo John Leahy's first major scalp was followed by others, such as United and US Airways. Most Northwest A320s (and A319s) made their way to Delta following the airline's January 1st 2010 merger, with Delta now adding it's own newly ordered A321s.

A320-231 MSN 045 Indian Airlines VT-EPB [Delivered June 21st 1989, Retired January 2016 (Air India)]

Upgrading from 737-200s to A320s was a challenge for Indian Airlines. Following the (Feb 14th 1990) crash of one it's new A320s, the entire IAC fleet was grounded for a few months to allow for additional training and familiarization of the new aircraft. Now merged with Air India, the majority of IAC's early build A320s are now retired, with new aircraft (including A320 NEOs) being delivered to Air India.

A320-231 MSN 052 Braniff N901BN [Delivered July 13th 1989, Retired August 2014 (US Airways)]

The second iteration of Braniff was already financially challenged when it took delivery of it's first A320. Just five were delivered in the second half of 1989 before the airline ceased operations in late December. These and numerous others destined for Braniff went on to serve America West Airlines, paving the way for the post-deregulation start up to eventually replace it's 737 fleet.

A320-211 MSN 069 Lufthansa D-AIPA [Delivered October 16th 1989, Currently In Service]

Lufthansa still operates many of it's early build A320s, and has subsequently placed follow on orders for A320 family aircraft that have now enabled the complete replacement of it's once substantial fleet of 737s. Lufthansa and subsidiary Eurowings currently operate 267 A320 family aircraft.

A320-211 MSN 059 Air Canada C-FDQQ [Delivered January 19th 1990, Currently In Service]

Air Canada acquired A320s (and later A319/A321s) to replace it's DC-9 and 727 fleet. Air Canada and subsidiary Air Canada Rouge currently operate 100 A320 family aircraft. From 2018 that fleet will start to diminish as Boeing 737 MAX 8s replace the A320s. Bombardier CSeries are also on order to replace A319s.

A320-211 MSN 087 Royal Jordanian F-OGYA [Delivered March 19th 1990, Retired October 2009 (Hellas Jet SX-BVL)]

Royal Jordanian operated five early build CFM powered A320s, later switching to IAE powered A319s, A320s and A321s, with 12 aircraft currently in it's fleet.

The oldest A320 still in service

A320-211 MSN 029 F/F January 5th 1989

Ansett Airlines / Ansett Australia VH-HYG April 21st 1989 - March 4th 2002

BH Air LZ-BHA May 12th 2003 - June 1st 2006

Air Scotland (Operated by Greece Airways - all white) SX-BLX June 10th 2006 - November 1st 2006

Jordan Aviation JY-JAC November 1st 2006 - Current

flyadeal takes delivery of first A320

flyadeal (Saudi Arabia) has taken delivery of it's first of eight new Airbus A320s, with which it will commence domestic low cost (LCC) service September 23rd (Saudi Arabia National Day). The airline is wholly owned by flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines. Based at Jeddah, initial destinations will be Riyadh and Dammam, followed by additional domestic routes.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 7829 flyadeal (leased from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise) HZ-FAA "Al-Nayyir" (test registration D-AXAC) [Delivered August 23rd 2017]

flyadeal (website)

China Express Airlines takes delivery of it's first A320

China Express Airlines, a privately held regional airline, has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A320. The airline currently operates 32 Bombardier CRJ-900LRs from it's base at Chongqing to some 70 destinations.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 7805 China Express Airlines B-8697 [Test Registration D-AVVK] Delivered August 18th 2017

There are currently 4,230 A320s in worldwide service, of which 770 (18%) operate for Chinese airlines.

Ernest adds an A320 to it's fleet

New Italian entrant Ernest has taken delivery of an A320 (MSN 2044), adding to an A319 delivered in March, with which it commenced LCC service between Italy and Albania (see previous JetTrak item: Ernest commences service).

This aircraft was delivered new to TAME (Ecuador) as HC-CDZ September 12th 2003, leased from GATX. The aircraft was returned off lease in May 2008 to Macquarie Aviation (who had acquired GATX's assets in December 2006). The next lessee of the aircraft was TAM Brasil, that was later re-branded LATAM in May 2006, before returning off lease this May.

Rahila Air receives first A320

Rahila Air (Libya) has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A320 (MSN 438 5A-WAT), with which it plans to operate from Tripoli to Alexandria, Sfax, Tunis and Istanbul. The aircraft was originally delivered new to Gulf Air October 28th 1993, and has subsequently operated with LTE (Spain), CAA - Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (Congo) and Ghadames Air Transport (Libya).

Rahila Air (website)

Sundair takes delivery of first A320

Sundair (Germany) has taken delivery of it's first (of two) ex-LATAM Airbus A320-200s prior to commencing charter operations. The aircraft MSN 4974 D-ASEF was originally delivered to TAM Brasil as PR-MYO December 19th 2011, before transferring to the LATAM brand May 2016.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 4974 F/F 12/13/11
TAM PR-MYO 12/19/11 - 5/5/16
LATAM PR-MYO 5/5/16 - 4/20/17
Sundair D-ASEF 9/27/17 - present

EasyJet Europe...first transfer

EasyJet Europe (Austria) has received it's first A320, transferred from the UK. With uncertainty created by #brexit, the company has decided to create a European based subsidiary in order to protect it's rights to fly within EU countries, a substantial part of it's business. The airline has selected Austria for it's EU base, with up to 110 A320s to be transferred and in service by March 2019, when the UK is scheduled to leave the EU.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 6970 EasyJet G-EZPA - now registered OE-IVA

EasyJet, based at Luton, UK, while a major player at it's original base, also conducts a significant flight operation out of London-Gatwick (and other UK airports - such as Manchester) where it has become the dominant operator. Securing it's ability to continue services within the EU (that is flights that depart and land in countries other than the UK) is vital to the company.

EasyJet commenced operations in 1995 with two wet leased 737-200s, and it's growth since then has been spectacular. The airline chose the classic LCC model of operating a single type fleet of 737s, but later switched to an all Airbus A320 family operation.

EasyJet fleet summary (as of July 15th 2008 and 2017, including EasyJet Switzerland)

2008
30 x 737-700
117 x A319
9 x A320
8 x A321
Total: 164

2017
143 x A319
132 x A320
Total: 439

Air Côte d'Ivoire takes delivery of first new A320

Air Côte d'Ivoire has taken delivery of it's first new Airbus A320 (MSN 7742 TU-TSV), adding to two existing used A320s on lease from Global Aviation. The airline also operates five A319s and 4 Dash 8s (Q400s).

A320-214 MSN 7742 Air Cote d'Ivoire TU-TSV [test registration D-AXAU]

Gowair takes delivery of first A320

Gowair (Spain) has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A320 (MSN 1296 EC-MQH) leased from Fortress Transportation. The airline's AOC was received July 27th, clearing the way for charter flights from Madrid. The airline plans to launch charters to the Caribbean in 2018 using an A330.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 1296 F/F 7/26/00
Zhejiang Airlines B-2210 9/15/00 - 9/27/03
Air China B-2210 9/27/03 - 12/28/16
Gowair Vacation Airlines EC-MQH 7/13/17 - present

Air France takes delivery of 69th A320

Air France took delivery of it's 69th Airbus A320 (MSN 7713 F-HEPI), it's first new A320 delivery since 2013. Air France operates all versions of the A320 family, having now received 18 x A318, 39 x A319, 69 x A320 and 25 x A321 for a total of 151 A320 family aircraft delivered new. The airline also absorbed the A320 family fleet of Air Inter when the domestic airline was absorbed in September 1997. Only one ex-Air Inter A320 continues to be operated today (msn 237 F-GHQM).

Many early build A320-100s and -200s have now been retired from Air France, and their current A320 family fleet numbers:

A318: 18
A319: 38
A320: 43
A321: 20
Total: 119

Few airlines have operated all four members of the A320 family. These include Air France, British Airways, LAN Airlines and Frontier Airlines.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 7713 F-HEPI Air France [SkyTeam colors, test registration F-WWTP]

Star East Airlines receives first aircraft

Star East Airlines (Romania) has taken delivery of it's first A320 (MSN 357 YR-SEA) ahead of commencing charter services

Wataniya Airways to resume operations

Wataniya Airways (Kuwait) is to resume operations, having recently received it's AOC, and the first of two Airbus A320s, leased from Air Arabia. The airline originally commenced operations in January 2009, and operated a total of seven Airbus A320s. However, the airline ceased operations on March 16th 2011, following financial difficulties. The revived carrier will initially serve regional Middle Eastern and Asian destinations.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 6180 Wataniya Airways 9K-EAH

JetSMART takes delivery of first new A320

JetSMART (Chile) has taken delivery a new Airbus A320 (MSN 7595 CC-AWA) with which it will shortly commence ultra low cost carrier operations. The airline's owner is Arizona based Indigo Partners, also parent company of Denver based Frontier Airlines, hence a similar tail logo theme with animal images.

A320-232 MSN 7595 JetSmart CC-AWA Delivered June 13th 2017 [Entered service Santiago -> Calama July 25th]

Allegiant Air takes delivery of it's first new A320

Allegiant Air (US) took delivery of it's first (of 12) newly manufactured Airbus A320s (MSN 7664 N246NV). This bring's Allegiant's A320 current fleet to 20, with the previous 19 all acquired on the used aircraft market. Until now, all of Allegiant's aircraft have been acquired on the used market.

The airline also currently operates 20 A319s, 2 757-200s and 46 MD-80s. The latter two types of aircraft are being phased out over the next two years, as Allegiant moves to an all Airbus fleet.

Niki ends A320 operations

Niki (Austria) ended A320 operations, following the transfer of it's last example to sister airline Air Berlin (mostly for wet-lease to Eurowings). The majority of Air Berlin's A321s have transferred to Niki, which now operates 16 of the type.

Postscript: Following Air Berlin's 8/17 insolvency filing, Niki Lauda is bidding to buy back the airline he created and owned.