Airbus — Commercial
Explore the A319-100's range on the map →The Airbus A319-100 can fly up to 4,200 nautical miles (7,778 km) as a ferry flight with no payload. With a full load of passengers and cargo, the range drops to approximately 3,750 nm (6,945 km). At its cruise speed of 450 kt, that's about 9h 20m of non-stop flying at ferry weight, or 8h 20m fully loaded.
The A319-100 is a shortened A320 - 3.77 metres trimmer - carrying 120–160 passengers depending on configuration. It entered service in 1996 and gave airlines the flexibility to deploy A320-family economics on thinner routes without operating a fundamentally different aircraft type. Pilots already rated on the A320 can fly the A319 with minimal additional training, which made it commercially attractive even when the economics were marginal.
Its moment in the spotlight came when operators discovered it had quietly exceptional range. With a full load of 124 passengers and optional ACT (Additional Centre Tank) fuel, the A319-100 can cover over 3,700 nautical miles - comfortably more than the standard A320. Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines initially used it for thin US domestic routes; Air France and Lufthansa flew it on intra-European hops that a bigger aircraft would serve half-empty. A handful of operators even flew it across the Atlantic, taking advantage of its surprisingly deep fuel reserves.
The A319-100 is now firmly in sunset territory. The A220-100 does everything the A319 was designed for, but with 20% better fuel burn, a newer composite structure, and a cabin passengers find less cramped. Lufthansa, easyJet, and United are all winding down their A319 fleets, with retirements accelerating through the mid-2020s. The type's legacy is mainly that it proved a shortened narrowbody could be commercially viable - a proof of concept that led directly to the A220 acquisition.
