The plane crash in Egypt has focused attention on the safety record of the plane involved.
The Airbus A321 had just taken off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, on its way to St Petersburg, Russia, a route it covered regularly.
The plane is one of the A320 fleet, which includes the A318 and A319. A jet from the A320 family, of which there are about 6,200, takes off or lands every 2.5 seconds somewhere in the world
The A321 is the largest member of the A320 family. The company says the aircraft “offers airline customers the best seat-mile costs of any single-aisle aircraft and seating capacities comparable to that of a widebody jetliner”.
The plane first started flying in 1993 and went into commercial operation the following year. More than 900 have been made. The two-engine jet can carry up to 220 passengers and is capable of flying up to 3,000 nautical miles while carrying a maximum passenger payload. “Like each member in Airbus’ A320 family of jetliners, the A321 offers the lowest fuel burn, emissions and noise footprint in its class,” Airbus says.
The last high-profile incident involving an A320 jet was in March, when Germanwings flight 4U9525 crashed in the French Alps with the loss of 150 passengers and crew. In this case the plane was deliberately crashed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
The previous November a Lufthansa A321 plane had lost altitude over Spain.
The Aviation Safety Network says there have been 16 serious incidents involving the A321 since 1996, only one of which was fatal. In 2010 an Airblue A321 with 152 passengers crashed in Islamabad.
AeroInside, which gathers data on aviation incidents and accidents, has 212 incidents involving an A321 on file, most involving relatively minor technical issues.
In September, a Thomas Cook Airbus A321-200 flying from Manchester to Izmir in Turkey reported a hydraulic problem and returned to Manchester where it landed safely.
The same month two fires were detected in the toilet of a Monarch Airlines Airbus A321-200, flying from Birmingham to Sharm el-Sheikh. In both cases the crew extinguished the fires and the flight continued.
