Airbus A320 safety record
The A320 family has one of the lowest accident rates of any airliner, across more than twelve thousand aircraft and several decades.
Among the lowest accident rates of any airliner
Boeing's annual accident summary measures this as fatal hull losses per million departures — how many times in a million flights an aircraft of the type was destroyed in an accident that killed someone. Across the worldwide jet fleet Boeing tracks, since 1959, the figure is 0.52. The original A320 family stands at 0.07 — among the lowest in the chart — over an enormous number of flights; the newer neo versions stand at 0.04.
By Boeing's count, fifteen A320-family aircraft have been lost in accidents with fatalities over nearly four decades; that count leaves out deliberate acts and losses whose cause was never determined. With more than twelve thousand built, that is a very small share of a very large number of flights.
The A320 in numbers
The wings are meant to bend
An A320's wings flex in bumpy air: the tips rise and fall as the wing absorbs a gust rather than passing all of it into the cabin. They're built to bend far further than anything the weather can ask of them.
In normal operation its fly-by-wire controls stop the pilots from taking the aircraft outside its safe limits, but they don't smooth the air. As a mid-sized jet, the A320 feels a gust more than a big widebody would — expected, and well inside what it's built for.
Six across in economy
The A320 seats six across in economy, three either side of one aisle, like the 737 — but in a cabin that's a little wider. The drawing fits those six seats and the aisle into the published width, so the difference ends up in the seats, where you can feel it.
Legroom is still the airline's choice, so a tightly spaced A320 can feel smaller than a generous 737. Width is the one thing the aircraft decides.
How big it really is
An A320 is a single-aisle jet of medium size, about the same as a Boeing 737-800. The A321 is a stretched version and the A319 a shortened one; the cabin width is the same across the family.
Tap any other airliner to lay it over the A320 at exactly the same scale.
The A320 in white, the 777 outlined in gold. Same scale, same metre.
Airbus A320 questions
How safe is the A320?
The A320 family has one of the lowest accident rates of any airliner, across more than twelve thousand aircraft and several decades. Every figure on this page is sourced — the list is at the bottom.
Is the A320 wider than the 737?
Yes, the A320's cabin is slightly wider than the 737's, which is why its economy seats can be a little wider. The cross-section above draws both from their published cabin widths.
What's the difference between the A320 and the A320neo?
The neo — new engine option — has newer, larger, more efficient engines and some aerodynamic changes. The cabin width and the basic aircraft are the same.
A320 or 737: which is better in turbulence?
They're similar in size and weight, so they ride bumpy air in much the same way. The bigger factor is the weather on your route, which the forecast shows you.
Every other airliner
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is from the manufacturer, the certifying authority or the published accident record.
- Airbus Wingspan, Length, Cabin width, Typical seats, Range
- Airbus Economy, Seat width
- law.cornell.edu Cabin altitude
- EASA type certificate data sheet Engines
- Airbus Delivered
- Airbus Still being built, In service since
- Airbus First flight
- Boeing Accident record
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