A320 Family Continues to be the Market Leader with Low-Cost Airlines

GoAir, the People's Airline, based in Mumbai, India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 10 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, plus 10 options to expand services to major business and leisure destinations across the country. GoAir launched services with two leased A320s in November 2005, with a further four leased A320s scheduled to enter the fleet during 2006. All of the A320 aircraft on firm order will seat 180 passengers in an all-economy layout.

The latest A320 order from GoAir serves to highlight the outstanding popularity that the A320 Family has enjoyed with both established and start up low-cost carriers, including in the Asia-Pacific region, over the past few years. Almost 480 A320 Family aircraft are already in service with 38 carriers across Asia-Pacific.

"We are very pleased to have selected the A320 Family for our future fleet requirements. The A320 Family is the preferred choice of all leading Indian operators. This is the beginning of a long term partnership between GoAir and Airbus." said Mr Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir.

"GoAir epitomises the new spirit of the Indian air transport industry, with its focus on keeping costs low and passengers satisfied. The A320 is the perfect aircraft to meet GoAir’s expectations, with its combination of low fuel burn & maintenance costs, and its well equipped, comfortable cabin" said Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer, Gustav Humbert.

Widely accepted as the industry standard, the best selling A320 Family comprises the 107 seat A318, 124 seat A319, 150 seat A320 and 185 seat A321. They share the same airframe - only the fuselage lengths are different - plus the same cockpits, systems and engines. With the most modern design of any single-aisle aircraft, the Airbus A320 Family is best placed to deliver the lowest running costs, making it the most economic aircraft in its class. And with the widest cabin in their class, passengers get more space, comfort and overhead stowage space, making the Airbus A320 Family the preferred aircraft on short-to-medium haul routes.

The Airbus A320 Family also delivers many features as standard, such as weight-saving carbon fibre primary structure, a choice of engines and auxiliary power units, a fuel-saving aerodynamic design that includes wingtip fences, weight-saving carbon brakes, cost-saving centralised maintenance, and category 3B autoland.

Airbus is an EADS joint company with BAE Systems.

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