What to Know About the Airbus 320 Jet Amid EgyptAir Search

Airbus 320 jets carry over 2.5 million passengers a day.

ByABC News
May 23, 2016, 4:50 PM

— -- The Airbus A320 is one of the most common jets in the sky and it's the same model of the EgyptAir plane that disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea last Thursday with 66 aboard. An ABC News aviation contributor deems it "a great aircraft with a superb safety record."

Fast Facts

Here some fast facts to know about the Airbus 320, according to Airbus:

  • The first A320 entered service in 1988. Since then, it's carried more than 10.5 billion passengers. (That's over 2.5 million passengers a day).
  • The A320 family includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321.
  • There are 6,713 A320s in operation as of last month. An A320 takes off or lands every two seconds.
  • Today’s A320s have an operational reliability of 99.7 percent.

    • EgyptAir

    The cause of the EgyptAir crash remains under investigation. ABC News' aviation contributor Steve Ganyard said "we still know too little to suggest that the A320 has a problem that would threaten the flying public's safety."

    Before the EgyptAir flight disappeared en route to Cairo from Paris last week, Airbus 320s were involved in 11 deadly crashes, in addition to the Germanwings plane that was intentionally crashed by a co-pilot in the French Alps last year, according to The Associated Press. An Airbus spokesperson could not immediately confirm the number of deadly crashes.

    Ganyard told ABC News, "The A320 is a great aircraft with a superb safety record -- which is why it is hard to conceive of a mechanical problem that would have led directly to [the EgyptAir] crash."

    As the desperate search for the EgyptAir flight's black box continues, a spokesperson for Airbus told ABC News today, "In line with ICAO Annex 13 rules, Airbus is providing full technical assistance to the French Investigation Agency - BEA - and the Egyptian Investigation Authorities who leads the technical investigation. The Airbus Safety team coordinates our response and support to the authorities, including local support in Cairo."

    "The official authorities in charge of the investigation will start the research to determine the location of the pingers with the appropriate means," the statement said. "This search could take from a few days to a few weeks."