European planemaker Airbus is one half of the duopoly that dominates
commercial aviation - the other company, of course, being American manufacturer Boeing.
For those working in the industry, or have years of experience being planespotters and avgeeks,
identifying commercial aircraft can come quite easily.
This is definitely not the case for others, who might need a little guidance on how to identify
and make distinctions between various types. Today, we’re going to go over Airbus’ commercial
passenger jets and how you’ll be able to identify each one. So let’s get started…
Going in numerical order, let’s start with the Airbus A300 and A310. As Aircraft Recognition
Guide notes, the general appearance of the A300, A310 and A330 are the same.
Features common among these jets are:
The last cockpit window having a cut-off top corner with straight underside.
A section of cabin windows on the rear fuselage sloping upwards,
And a flat topped rear fuselage towards and under the tail.
Both the A300 and A310 typically have small triangular winglets known as wingtip fences.
Unfortunately, not ALL A300s or A310s have these, but many do. Others may have no winglets at all.
When it comes to passenger variants of these jets, A300s have three large doors across the fuselage
with an additional small emergency door behind the wing. The A310, being a shorter aircraft,
has just two main doors on each side with one small emergency door just above the wing.
At this point, we’ve mentioned several characteristics that
are also mostly shared with the A320 family of aircraft.
Indeed, older A320 family aircraft are also equipped with wingtip fence winglets.
However, the A300 and A310 are widebody aircraft as opposed to the single-aisle,
narrowbody A320 family of jets. It’s hard to describe the difference in width in words
but the A300 and A310 would look more bloated than compared to the “slimmer” A320 family.
Additionally, when landing gear is down, the A300 and A310 have what are known as
“double bogeys” - two sets of wheels for each set that comprise the main landing gear.
Meanwhile, A320 family aircraft, going from the A319 to A321,
all have single bogeys - or one set of wheels. Of course, complicating things
is the fact that Air India has a few special A320s that are equipped with double bogeys
as part of their main landing gear. But this is a very rare exception to the rule!
Moving on to the A320 family, this consists of four members: The A318, 319, 320, and 321.
When looking at the family in general, we again have the last cockpit window with a cut-off top
corner and straight underside. As mentioned previously, older members of this family have
wingtip fence winglets, although newer models are fitted with tall, L-shaped blended winglets.
Members of this family also have fairly round noses that bulge out from under the cockpit.
This is different than the Boeing 737 which has a more pointed nose,
or the A350, which has a nose that blends into the cockpit.
After this, it’s a matter of fuselage length and the number of doors and windows.
We’re going to avoid listing the number of windows for each aircraft
since it’s unrealistic to count in order to identify an airplane!
However, when it comes to doors, here is how each family member compares:
The A318 AND A319 have two main doors, one at the front and one at the rear.
In the middle just above the wing is a small emergency exit door.
Sadly, telling the A318 and A319 apart is only possible with fuselage length
and the number of windows. Without being too specific, we can say that the A318
is a much more short and stubby aircraft compared to its slightly longer sibling.
For the A320, the fuselage is, unsurprisingly, even longer. Instead of one small emergency exit
door on each side like its smaller siblings, the A320 has a set of two small overwing exits
on each side, in addition to one main door at the front and one at the rear.
The A321 takes things further - an even longer fuselage with more doors and windows. This
family member is identified by having four large doors on each side of the fuselage.
Of course, complicating things is the fact that A321s fitted with Airbus’
cabin flex option have a different door layout.
Instead of four large doors, these jets have one door at the front,
a pair of smaller exits over the wing, a door behind the wing,
and then another door close to the end of the fuselage, close to where the tail begins.
As mentioned previously, all A320 family members have single bogey landing gear
with the exception of a few Air India aircraft.
Distinguishing between an older CEO (current engine option)
and NEO (new engine option) can at times be tricky and fairly easy at other times.
Here are some basic rules: CEO jets will have wingtip fence
winglets while NEOs all have blended winglets. NEO jets have larger engines. From the front this
is simply a larger diameter and circumference. From a side perspective, CEO engines will appear
more stretched and rectangular while NEO engines are more square in proportion.
The cockpit mask is, in general, another effective way to tell CEOs and NEOs apart.
But, unfortunately, there are complications and exceptions to this!
Not all NEOs have the cockpit mask, while Germany’s Eurowings Discover had decided to apply
the cockpit mask to some of its A320CEO aircraft, to give it that ‘next-generation’ appearance.
As a result, using this feature as a way to identify
aircraft may prove accurate 90% of the time, but it’s not guaranteed.
Moving up in size again, we have the widebody Airbus A330 and A340. Designed at the same time as
a two-in-one program, the A340 is a larger version of the A330 with four engines instead of two.
Both the A330ceo and A340 have angular winglets. The only other Airbus aircraft sporting similar
winglets is the much smaller A220- but we’ll get to that jet later on! The A330ceo and A340
also have the last cockpit window sporting a cut-off top corner and straight underside.
Being a larger aircraft than A320 family members, the A330 has a double bogey main landing gear.
The A340, with its larger fuselage and additional engines,
also sports a middle landing gear, which comes down right under the belly of the aircraft.
The landing gear of the A330 and A340 also tilt backward when in the air.
On each side, both the A330-200 and -300 have three large doors and one small emergency door.
Thus, telling these two jets apart comes down to fuselage length and the number of windows.
For the four members of the four-engined A340, the -200,
-300 and -500 all have three large doors and one smaller door behind the wing.
The behemoth -600, on the other hand, has four large doors and one overwing exit on each side.
The A330neo family consists of the A330-800 and -900.
These aircraft can be identified by their unique composite winglets which have a shallow bend. And,
just like older A330s, the -800 and -900 have landing gears that tilt back.
These jets also wear a cockpit mask like other NEO aircraft.
Of course, Eurowings Discover again complicates this by painting cockpit masks on its older A330s!
But it’s not the only one as Hi Fly has done this on one of its A330-300s!
The -800 is shorter while the -900 is longer. Unfortunately, however, both variants have the
same number of doors. However, since the -800 is so much rarer, chances are you’re likely
looking at a -900… unless that aircraft has a Uganda Airlines or Kuwait Airways livery!
The Airbus A350 is a fairly unique sight in the skies. It has a black cockpit outline,
or mask, like other newer generation Airbus jets. However, its cockpit windows are quite
different from other aircraft, as the windows are much more curved.
The A350’s nose is also unique from other Airbus aircraft
in how it blends in with the cockpit rather than bulging out.
Finally, this type’s winglets have quite a distinct curve to them,
not found on any other aircraft.
While the -1000 is longer than the -900,
they both, unfortunately, have the same number of doors on each side.
However, the -1000 has triple bogey landing gear while it’s just double for the A350-900.
Coming to the superjumbo A380, all we really
need to say is that it has a second deck that stretches all the way to the back.
So, just look for two full rows of windows and you’ll undoubtedly be looking at an Airbus A380!
Four engines and wingtip fence winglets can also be spotted for additional confirmation!
And last up is the A220. While this jet wasn’t designed by Airbus, we probably should include
it anyways! The A220’s nose is similar to the A350s in that it blends into the cockpit windows.
Aside from this, the cockpit windows on the sides have a rounded bottom corner. And finally,
these jets have angular winglets similar in shape to those found on the A330 and A340.
So, there’s our crash course on how to tell different Airbus aircraft apart from each other.
As you can see, distinguishing different size variants from one another may be the
trickiest aspect since some variants have the same number of doors. Indeed, spotting a
longer fuselage from a shorter one is sadly just something that only comes about with practice.
We’re almost certain that we missed a few tips and tricks for identifying Airbus jets.
If you have any more to add, please leave them in the comments section below!