Germanwings crash: Just how safe is the Airbus A320?

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 9 years ago

Germanwings crash: Just how safe is the Airbus A320?

By Drew Harwell
Updated

Washington: The Airbus A320 is one of the world's most widely used aircraft, having embarked on more than 85 million flights worldwide, and has found a place on the tarmac of virtually every US airline. Aircraft in the A320 family either take off or land every 2.5 seconds, Airbus data show.

But the short-haul, single-aisle A320 has also been at the centre of a dozen fatal accidents since 1988, including in December, when an AirAsia jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing 162 passengers and crew.

A Germanwings Airbus A320 in Berlin last year.

A Germanwings Airbus A320 in Berlin last year.Credit: Reuters

With the crash investigation just beginning, airline experts said the A320 was nonetheless an incredibly safe jet showing few causes for widespread alarm. For every million takeoffs, the A320 family has just 0.14 fatal accidents, a Boeing safety analysis found.

"In terms of accident rates, it's one of the safest jets built," said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation expert and vice president of aerospace consultancy Teal Group Corp. "There are no reasons to question its record".

The passenger flight run by German airline Germanwings from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, Flight 9525, was carrying six crew members and 144 passengers, including a group of 16 schoolchildren, all of whom are now presumed dead.

The jet crashed after an eight-minute descent into a snowy, mountainous region of the Alps about 650 kilometres south-east of Paris, near the small village of Meolans-Revel and Pra Loup, a popular southern France ski resort. Airbus said it plans to dispatch a go-team of technical advisers to help investigate one of Western Europe's worst plane crashes in decades.

The crashed jet, which had flown 58,300 hours across 46,700 flights, was delivered to Lufthansa from the production line in 1991. That makes it one of the older A320s but still within the average age of planes in service. The average A320 flown by Delta, for instance, is about 20 years old, airline data show.

Asked if the airline would ground its A320s, Germanwings spokesman Thomas Winkelmann said the planes have a "fabulous service record" and said there would be further investigation. The jet's last major inspection was in 2013, though a regular check of the plane was conducted Monday, the day before the crash, Germanwings officials said.

Advertisement

Germanwings officials said there were contradictory reports on whether a distress signal was sent. Responding to German media speculation that a computer glitch could have forced the plane into a steep dive, Germanwings said they believed that had not caused the crash and that the A320's computer systems were fully updated.

Airbus, which made its name on wide-body jets like the A300, found worldwide success with the A320, which boosted the airline's profile and forced rival carriers like Boeing to step up competition for their similar jet, the 737. The twin-engine, single-aisle A320 is able to fit 150 passengers and efficiently reach long ranges.

"It's extraordinarily popular and regarded as a reliable, safe aircraft, one that's in service in every part of the world," said Seth Kaplan, the managing partner for Airline Weekly. Nearly all major U.S. airlines fly them; the only notable exceptions are Southwest and Alaska Airlines, which use exclusively Boeing jets.

There was a time when budget airlines were seen as skimping on safety, particularly after a fatal crash involving ValuJet Airlines, but low-cost airlines now boast low accident rates and safety records very similar to larger legacy carriers, experts said.

It was Germanwings' first crash, the airlines said. "If our fears are confirmed," Deutsche Lufthansa chief executive Carsten Spohr tweeted, "this is a dark day for Lufthansa".

Washington Post

Most Viewed in Business

Loading