Final assembly takes place in Toulouse in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama in the United States since April 2016.

Variants offer maximum take-off weights from 68 to 93.5 tonnes (150,000 to 206,000 lb), to cover a 5,740–6,940 kilometres; 3,570–4,320 miles (3,100–3,750 nmi) range.

Plans from a number of European aircraft manufacturers called for a successor to the relatively successful BAC One-Eleven, and to replace the 737-200 and DC-9.

[8] The design within the JET study that was carried forward was the JET2 (163 passengers), which then became the Airbus S.A1/2/3 series (Single Aisle), before settling on the A320 name for its launch in 1984.

In June 1977 a new Joint European Transport (JET) programme was set up, established by British Aerospace (BAe), Aerospatiale, Dornier and Fokker.

[9] The single-aisle programme created divisions within Airbus about whether to design a shorter-range twinjet rather than a longer-range quadjet wanted by the West Germans, particularly Lufthansa.

The Germans requested an increased work-share of 40%, while the British wanted the major responsibilities to be swapped around to give partners production and research and development experience.

[13] The UK government was unwilling to provide funding for the tooling, requested by BAe and estimated at £250 million; it was postponed for three years.

[17]: 50  The first A320 was delivered to Air France on 28 March,[22] and began commercial service on 8 April with a flight between Paris and Berlin via Düsseldorf.

[9] In January 1997, an A319 broke a record during a delivery flight by flying the 3,588 nautical miles (6,645 km; 4,129 mi) great circle route to Winnipeg, Manitoba from Hamburg in 9 hours and 5 minutes.

[1] The A318 was born out of mid-1990 studies between Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), Singapore Technologies Aerospace, Alenia and Airbus on a 95- to 125-seat aircraft project.

[40] In June 2018, along a larger and modernised delivery centre, Airbus inaugurated its fourth Hamburg production line, with two seven-axis robots to drill 80% of fuselage upper side holes and autonomous mobile tooling platforms, following Design Thinking principles.

[46] In 2006, Airbus started the A320 Enhanced (A320E) programme as a series of improvements targeting a 4–5% efficiency gain, with large winglets (2%), aerodynamic refinements (1%), weight savings and a new aircraft cabin.

[citation needed] Despite the anticipated efficiency gains and development work, Airbus announced that those winglets would not be offered to customers, claiming that the weight of the modifications required negated any aerodynamic benefits.

[51] On 17 December 2008, Airbus announced it was to begin flight testing an existing blended winglet design developed by Aviation Partners Inc. as part of an A320 modernisation programme using the A320 prototype.

Installation adds 200 kg (440 lb) but offers a 3.5% fuel burn reduction on flights over 2,800 km (1,500 nmi; 1,700 mi),[53] saving approximately US$220,000 and 700 t of CO2 per aircraft per year.

[55] In December 2011, Airbus filed suit in the western district of Texas over Aviation Partners' claims of infringement of its patents on winglet design and construction which were granted in 1993.

[56] The first sharklet-equipped Airbus A320 was delivered to Indonesia AirAsia on 21 December 2012, offering a 450 kg (990 lb) payload and 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) range increases over the original aircraft specifications.

[57] In 2007, Airbus introduced a new enhanced, quieter cabin with better luggage storage and a more modern look and feel, and a new galley that reduced weight, increased revenue space and improved ergonomics and design for food hygiene and recycling.

[61] The A320neo (neo for new engine option) is a development launched on 1 December 2010, making its first flight on 25 September 2014 and introduced by Lufthansa on 25 January 2016.

[64] The Airbus A320 family are narrow-body (single-aisle) aircraft with a retractable tricycle landing gear and powered by two wing pylon-mounted turbofan engines.

The A320 airframe includes composite materials and aluminium alloys to save weight and reduce the total number of parts to decrease the maintenance costs.

[67] Its tail assembly is made almost entirely of such composites by CASA, which also builds the elevators, main landing gear doors, and rear fuselage parts.

For Roger Béteille, then Airbus president, introducing fly-by-wire with flight envelope protection was one of the most difficult decisions he had ever made, explaining: "Either we were going to be first with new technologies or we could not expect to be in the market.

Relative to other Airbus A320 family variants, the A318 has sold in only small numbers with total orders for only 80 aircraft placed as of 31 October 2015[update].

An ACJ serves as a presidential or official aircraft of Armenia,[92] Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy,[93] Malaysia, Slovakia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

However, on 3 June 2011, Airbus announced all partners would end the passenger-to-freighter programme, citing high demand on used airframes for passenger service.

[96] Finally, on 17 June 2015 ST Aerospace signed agreements with Airbus and EFW for a collaboration to launch the A320/A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme.

[100] The initial converted aircraft first flew on 22 January 2020, to be delivered to Vallair, and secured EASA supplementary type certificate in February.

[103] The aircraft was first delivered in 2006, and its first cargo operator was to be Nairobi-based Astral Aviation from the second quarter of 2022, leased from Middle Eastern lessor Vaayu Group.