The Airbus A319neo with CFM Leap-1A engines has received a joint type certificate from the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and the FAA ([United States] Federal Aviation Administration) on Friday.
This follows almost two years of testing the aircraft since its first flight on March 31, 2017. During these 20 months, the single test-frame has logged over 500 hours of flight time. This means that every member of the Airbus A320neo (new engine option) family has now been certified by authorities. The only remaining version, the A319neo with Pratt & Whitney engines, will be certified at a later stage.
Airbus’ A319neo can carry up to 160 passengers, in a single class configuration, as far as 3700 nautical miles (6900km). There is also a business jet version of the aircraft available, called ACJ319neo, which can transport eight passengers as far as 6750nm (12500km). So far the A319neo has logged slightly more than 50 orders with three of those for the ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jet) version. Colombian flag-carrier Avianca placed orders for 20, an unnamed airline for four and other undisclosed customers have ordered another 26 of the A319neo.
The A320neo family is the re-engined version of Airbus’ bestselling A320 ‘ceo’ family, which first flew in 1988. So far, more than 100 customers have ordered 6200 aircraft of the A320neo family, including the A319neo, A320neo and A321neo. The type is competing with Boeing’s 737 MAX family for customers but to date has logged more orders than Boeing.
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).