IATA 318ICAO A318

Airbus A318

Airbus

TravelerPulse profile

Smallest member of the Airbus A320 family.

First flight

2002

Category

Narrow-body jet

Seating

107–132 passengers

Range

6,100 km

Engines

Two CFM International CFM56-5 or Pratt & Whitney PW6000 turbofans

Status

In service

The Airbus A318 is the smallest variant of the A320 family, seating up to 132 passengers in a single-class configuration. It shares the same fuselage cross-section as its larger siblings but features a shorter fuselage, making it suited to thinner routes and smaller airports. Despite its design flexibility, the A318 found limited commercial success compared to other A320 family members, with airlines generally preferring the larger and more economical A319 and A320. Production was minimal, with fewer than 80 aircraft delivered in total. One notable use case was British Airways' transatlantic 'Club World London City' service operating between London City Airport and New York JFK, leveraging the A318's ability to use shorter runways and its configured all-business-class cabin.

Notable operators

Air France and British Airways were among the primary operators, with limited fleets across other carriers.

Notable facts

›The A318 is the shortest variant of the Airbus A320 family.
›Fewer than 80 aircraft were delivered, making it one of Airbus's least commercially successful variants.
›British Airways operated an all-business-class transatlantic A318 service via Shannon, Ireland, to comply with US customs pre-clearance requirements.
›The PW6000 engine, developed specifically partly for the A318, faced development challenges and saw limited adoption.
›The A318 can operate from shorter runways than most comparable jets due to its lighter weight.