The Airbus A318 is the smallest member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range,
narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A318 carries up
to 132 passengers and has a maximum range of 3,100 nmi. Final assembly of the aircraft
takes place in Toulouse, France. The aircraft shares a common type rating with
all other Airbus A320 family variants, allowing existing A320 family pilots to fly the aircraft
without the need for further training. It is the largest commercial aircraft certified
by the European Aviation Safety Agency for steep approach operations, allowing flights
at airports such as London City. The A318 entered service in July 2003 with
Frontier Airlines. Relative to other Airbus A320 family variants, it has sold in only
small numbers with total orders for only 81 aircraft placed as of 30 November 2012 and
after subsequent cancellations and one final delivery in 2013 the order book is now empty
with 79 aircraft delivered.
Development Background
The first member of the A320 family was the A320 which was launched in March 1984 and
first flew on 22 February 1987. The family was soon extended to include the A321, the
A319, and the A318. The A320 family pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control
systems, as well as side stick controls, in commercial aircraft.
The A318 was born out of mid-1990s studies between Aviation Industries of China, Singapore
Technologies Aerospace, Alenia and Airbus on a 95- to 125-seat aircraft project. The
programme was called the AE31X, and covered the 95-seat AE316 and 115- to 125-seat AE317.
The former was to have an overall length of 31.3 metres, while the AE317 would be longer
by 3.2 metres, at 34.5 metres. The engines would be supplied from two BMW Rolls-Royce
BR715s, CFM56-9s, or Pratt & Whitney PW6000s; with a maximum take-off weight of 53.3 tonnes
for the smaller version and 58 tonnes for the AE317. The thrust requirements were 77.9–84.6
kilonewtons and 84.6–91.2 kilonewtons, respectively. Range was settled at 5,200 kilometres and
5,800 kilometres for the high gross weight versions of both variants. Both would share
a wingspan of 31.0 metres and a flight deck similar to that of the A320 family. Costing
$2 billion to develop, aircraft production was to take place in China.
Design phase The aircraft was first named A319M5 in as
early as March 1995, as an A319 derivative with fuselage shortening of 0.79 metres ahead
of the wing and 1.6 metres behind. The final proposal was for a 107-passenger two-class
layout, and a range of 3,350 kilometres, or 6,850 kilometres with upcoming Sharklets.
The aircraft's production took advantage of laser welding, eliminating the necessity for
heavy rivets and bolts. Overall, the A318 is over six metres shorter and around 3 t
lighter than the A320. To compensate for the reduced moment arm it has a larger vertical
stabiliser, making it 75 centimetres taller than the other A320 variants. Pilots who are
trained on the other variants may fly the A318 with no further certification, since
it features a common flight deck and the same type rating as its sister aircraft.
The A318 is available with a variety of different maximum take-off weights ranging from a 59
tonne, 2,750 km base model to a 68 tonne, 6,000 km version. The lower MTOW enables
it to operate regional routes economically while sacrificing range and the higher MTOW
allows it to complement other members of the A320 family on marginal routes. The lighter
weight of the A318 gives it an operating range 10% greater than the A320, allowing it to
serve some routes that the A320 would be unable to: London - New York, Perth–Auckland and
Singapore–Tokyo, for instance. Its main use for airlines, however, is on short, low-density
hops between medium-sized cities. During the design process, the A318 encountered
several problems. The first one was the decline in demand for new aircraft following the September
11 attacks. Another was the new Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines, which burned more fuel than
expected; by the time CFM International had a more efficient engine ready for market,
many A318 customers had already backed out, including Air China and British Airways. America
West Airlines, which had selected the Pratt & Whitney engines, amended its A318 orders,
opting instead for A319 or A320 aircraft. Trans World Airlines cancelled a significant
order for fifty A318s after being acquired by American Airlines, which did not operate
any A320 family aircraft at the time. While Airbus was hoping to market the A318 as a
regional jet alternative, laws in both the U.S. and Europe have kept it in the same class
as larger aircraft for calculating charges such as landing fees, limiting the type's
market potential. The aircraft is powered by two CFM56-5 or
Pratt & Whitney PW6000 engines with thrust ratings of between 96 and 106 kilonewtons.
Launch customers Frontier Airlines and Air France took deliveries in 2003, with Frontier
receiving its aircraft in July of that year. The list price of an A318 ranges from $56
to $62 million, and operating costs are between $2,500 and $3,000 for each flight hour.
Orders for the A318 have been relatively slow, but better than for its direct competitor
the Boeing 737–600. At 30 September 2011, Airbus had received 81 orders for this model
compared to 69 for the 737-600. The sales pace has been influenced by the strong sales
of the Bombardier CRJ900 and Embraer E-Jets series. The biggest A318 customers are Air
France with 18; Frontier Airlines, 10; Avianca, 10, LAN Airlines, 20 orders; and Mexicana,
10 orders. Further developments
On 10 November 2005 Airbus announced the A318 Elite. The Airbus A318 Elite is aimed at the
medium - range market for flights of up to 4,000 nm range, with a choice of two cabin
layouts seating up to 18 passengers, and powered by CFM engines. Comlux Aviation became the
launch customer by ordering three A318 Elite aircraft.
In September 2010, Airbus confirmed that from 2013 the Airbus A318 would become available
with Sharklets, wingtip devices which reduce lift-induced drag and improve efficiency through
reduced fuel consumption. The optional devices, which will also be available on other Airbus
A320 family models and are manufactured by Korean Air Aerospace Division, will increase
the range of the aircraft to 5,930 km – an increase of 185 km over a standard A318 with
107 seats in a two-class configuration. Design
The Airbus A318 is a small, narrow-body aircraft with a retractable tricycle landing gear and
is powered by two wing pylon-mounted turbofan engines. It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane
with a conventional tail unit having a single vertical stabilizer and rudder. Two suppliers
provide turbofan engines for the A318: CFM with its CFM56 and Pratt & Whitney with the
PW6000 engine. Steep approach capability
In March 2006 the European Aviation Safety Agency certified a modified control software
enhancement to the Airbus A318 designed to allow the aircraft to perform steep approaches.
The aircraft is the largest commercial aircraft certified by EASA for steep approach operations.
The software modifies the control laws of the aircraft when the steep approach function
is selected by the crew, by automatically deploying some of the spoiler panels to provide
additional drag when the aircraft is in the landing configuration. It also provides alternative
aural alerts to the crew and modifies spoiler deployment automatically below 120 feet on
landing. The A318 steep approach procedure allows the aircraft to perform approaches
at descent angles of up to 5.5°, as opposed to the standard 3° for a normal approach.
A test flight was conducted in May 2006 at London City Airport where the aircraft proved
its steep approach and short runway performance, and its compatibility with the limited manoeuvring
and parking space at the airport. Subsequently in September 2009 Airbus delivered the first
A318 with steep approach capability to British Airways, which as of 2012 operates two such
aircraft on flights from London City to John F. Kennedy International Airport, via a refueling
stop at Shannon. This stopover is necessary as the aircraft would be unable to depart
London City Airport with the amount of fuel needed to cross the Atlantic, given the short
runway length at London City Airport. They are operated in a 32-seat all business class
configuration as flights BA001-4, the flight numbers previously used by Concorde on flights
to New York.
Operational history The maiden flight of the Airbus A318 took
place at Toulouse on 15 January 2002, and the first customer delivery was on 22 July
2003 to Frontier Airlines. As of July 2013, 47 A318s remained in commercial service with
6 airlines. Operators
Apart from private and executive operators, airline operators include:
Orders and deliveries
Data through end of February 2014. Updated on 13 March 2014.
Specifications Source: Airbus, Airliners.net
Engines See also
Airbus Executive and Private Aviation Related development
Airbus A320 family Aircraft of comparable role, configuration
and era Boeing 737-500
Boeing 737-600 Bombardier CRJ700 series
Embraer 195 Sukhoi Superjet 100
Related lists List of airlines
List of Airbus A320 operators References
Footnotes
References
Bibliography "World Airliner Census". Flight International,
Volume 184, Number 5403, 13–19 August 2013, pp. 40–58.
Norris, Guy and Mark Wagner. Airbus. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-0677-X.
External links Official Airbus website of the A320 aircraft
family