( CNN ) The A320 , the aircraft involved in a crash in France on Tuesday , has for several decades been a key component in the rivalry between manufacturers Airbus and Boeing . The twin-engined A320 entered service in 1988 , some two decades after its single-aisle rival , Boeing 's 737 . As of March 2015 , there have been a total of 11,537 orders for the A320 , with 6,452 deliveries to date and slightly fewer aircraft flying globally by more than 300 operators . Airbus says the entire fleet has accumulated 150 million flight hours in more than 85 million flights . The A320 family ranges from the smaller A318 ( about 100 seats ) , to the upgraded A321 ( about 185 to 220 passengers depending on the class configuration ) . The short to medium-range A320 is the most popular version with a range of about 3,300 nautical miles or 6,150 kilometers . It has a wingspan of 35.8 meters ( with wing fins called sharklets ) , a length of 37.57 meters and a maximum payload of 16.6 tonnes , according to Airbus . The aircraft -- Flight 9525 -- involved in Tuesday 's crash was operated by Germanwings , a subsidiary of German flag carrier Lufthansa . Airbus said the 150-seat aircraft , which had been flying between Barcelona , Spain and Dusseldorf , Germany , was 24 years old , having been delivered to Lufthansa from its production line in 1991 . It said the A320 had accumulated approximately 58,300 flight hours in 46,700 flights . It was powered by CFM 56-5A1 turbofan engines , the latest versions of which are capable of delivering up to 33,000 pounds of thrust . The aircraft manufacturer said it was sending a `` go-team of technical advisers '' to assist French authorities at the scene of the crash . Germanwings ' fleet includes 15 active A320s , according to another database , planespotters.net . The A320-200 can seat up to 180 passengers in a single-class configuration . The Germanwings plane was carrying 150 people , including six crew members . According to information from the Aviation Safety Network accident database , there have been 55 incidents involving the A320 , not including Tuesday 's crash . In December 2014 , an Airbus A320 operated by AirAsia Indonesia crashed into the Java Sea en route from Surabaya , Indonesia to Singapore . All 162 people on board Flight QZ8501 were killed . `` The A320 has a fantastic safety record , '' said Phil Seymour , the president of the International Bureau of Aviation . `` There have been a couple of incidents , but generally speaking , they 're safer than most aircraft out there now . '' Seymour adds that at 24 years old , the aircraft involved in the crash was probably nearing the final years of its working life , but that would not affect safety . `` Airlines would usually consider retiring an aircraft at the 25-30 years point because maintenance costs increase beyond that . `` These things fly day-in and day-out and are designed to go on and on . Airlines usually only decide to retire them because maybe there 's a younger aircraft that does n't use as much fuel and does n't cost so much to run . '' The A320 is a twin engine single aisle aircraft seating 150 passengers in a standard two classes configuration . The first A320 entered service in March 1988 . By the end of February 2015 nearly 6,200 A320 Family aircraft were in operation worldwide . To date , the entire fleet has accumulated some 150 million flight hours in over 85 million flights . The worst A320 incident in terms of fatalities was the 2007 crash of a TAM Linhas Aereas plane that killed all 187 on board , plus a further 12 people on the ground when it failed to stop and went off the runway during landing in Sao Paulo in wet conditions . In 2009 , in an incident known as the `` Miracle on the Hudson , pilot Chesley Sullenberger landed a U.S. Airways A320 on the Hudson River in New York when the plane lost lost power in its engines after hitting a flock of geese . All on board survived . CNN 's Barry Neild contributed to this report .
There have been more than 11,000 orders for the Airbus A320 family . The plane is the single-aisle rival to Boeing 's 737 . Hide Caption