Just 9 Active Airframes: Where The Airbus A319neo Is Flying In May 2023

The Airbus A319neo entered commercial service in March 2022 with Chinese carrier China Southern. The shortened variant of the popular A320neo has garnered few sales while deliveries appear to have been rather few and far between. Nonetheless, we examine the state of the type and its in-service airframes in this article.

Order and delivery data from Airbus

Coming direct from Airbus, the European planemaker's orders and delivery data accurate as of March 31st, 2023, state that 92 A319neos have been ordered while 12 have been delivered. The breakdown of orders is as follows:

Governments; Executive and private Jets: Nine ordered, five delivered
Air China: Five ordered, zero delivered
China Southern Airlines: Nine ordered, four delivered
Sichuan Airlines: Two ordered, zero delivered
Spirit Airlines: 31 ordered, zero delivered
Tibet Airlines: Three ordered, three delivered
Undisclosed: 33 ordered, zero delivered

There are some interesting things to note about the numbers presented. Airbus' A319neo summary reports that 12 of 12 airframes delivered are 'in operation'. However, when examining airline-level data, the company notes that two of the three aircraft delivered to Tibet Airlines are operational. Additionally, when it comes to undisclosed customers, one airframe is 'in operation,' despite zero being delivered.

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Just nine active airframes

While Airbus states that 12 A319neos are in operation, Planespotters.net lists just nine airframes as being active, with a 10th jet listed as parked. An 11th jet belonging to Airbus itself is also listed as parked. As you can see, the numbers don't line up perfectly, although it's difficult to understand where this discrepancy originates. Nonetheless, these are the jets marked as active, along with their registrations and manufacturer serial numbers (MSNs):

K5 Aviation: D-ANEO (MSN 8612):
Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan: UK888 (MSN 9012)
Jet Aviation Business Jets: VP-CRR (MSN 10339)
Sino Jet: P4-HUA (MSN 10673):
Global Jet Luxembourg: LX-TCB (MSN 10897)
China Southern Airlines:
- B-328A (MSN 10239)
- B-328C (MSN 10288)
- B-329Y (MSN 10955)
- B-32AU (MSN 10988):

For aircraft marked as 'parked' we have the Tibet Airlines A319neo registered B-32AJ (MSN 11046), and Airbus' own D-AVWA (MSN 6464).

A319neo routes and destinations

As the majority of operators on the list are private and utilize the ACJ319neo, it would appear that China Southern is the only true commercial operator of the type at the moment. Data seems to be hidden or unavailable for most of the ACJs, although we can see the flight history of Global Jet Luxembourg's LX-TCB. This private aircraft has been rather busy over the past month, flying every few days. Its longest-logged flights, however, are as follows:

London Luton to Los Angeles: 11 hours, nine minutes
Los Angeles to Farnborough: 10 hours, 19 minutes
London Luton to Oaxaca: 10 hours, 59 minutes
and Nassau to Farnborough: Seven hours, 55 minutes

Photo: Airbus ACJ

As for China Southern, all four of its active jets appear to be based in Guangzhou. These jets have been flying to a very, very long list of mainly domestic destinations, including the following:

Anqing
Dali
Dazhou
Fuyang
Haikou
Huai'an
Kathmandu
Kunming
Lanzhou
Lijiang
Nyingchi
Sanya
Shijiazhuang
Yantai
Wanzhou
Xining
Xichang
Yinchuan
Quzhou
Urumqi
Zunyi

MSN10239 2 A319neo China Southern delivery

Photo: Airbus

Urumqi and Kathmandu (Nepal) appear to be some of the longest services operated by the A319neo, with flight durations between four and five hours.

What do you think of the current state of the A319neo? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

Sources: Aviation Flights, Planespotters.net, FlightRadar24.com