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Air France becomes last operator of Airbus' least popular model

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Air France becomes last operator of Airbus' least popular model
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Simple Flying | Simple Flying

The Airbus A318, the smallest member of the A320 family, has seen its role in commercial aviation decline significantly. With only 80 units built, it is not a popular model. Air France was once the largest operator with 18 aircraft, while other operators included Avianca, Frontier Airlines, and Mexicana.

Currently, only two airlines operate the A318 commercially: Air France and Romania's TAROM. However, TAROM plans to retire its last A318 this year. The final flight for TAROM's remaining A318 is scheduled for November 22nd.

Air France will soon be the sole commercial operator of the A318. According to Cirium data, Air France has scheduled 1,636 flights with its A318 fleet for December. Despite retiring most of its fleet and introducing newer models like the Airbus A220-300s, Air France continues to use the A318 without announcing a retirement date.

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Frontier Airlines was the launch customer for the A318 in 2003 but retired it after a decade in favor of larger models like the A320 and A321 due to better economics and capacity.

As of now, Air France operates six A318s that can seat up to 131 passengers or 118 in a two-class setup. These aircraft have logged over 35,000 flight hours each.

In December, Air France's schedule includes over 30 short-haul European destinations from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Paris Orly (ORY), and Nice (NCE). Top routes include Paris CDG to Florence and Amsterdam and Paris Orly to Toulouse.

While no firm retirement date has been set by Air France for its remaining A318s, expansion of their A220 fleet suggests that it may happen soon. The airline plans to operate 60 Airbus A220s by late 2025 due to their superior capacity and fuel efficiency compared to the older model.

Though largely phased out as a commercial jetliner, around 20 Airbus A318s remain active today primarily as VIP jets operated by governments such as those of Brunei, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

TAROM's four retired planes were sold to UK-based firm 3TOP Aviation Services for parts—a fate shared by several former Air France units.

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