Air France A320-100 bound for Nürnberg.

Air France A320-100 bound for Nürnberg by Kevin Chan

This week saw the end of an aviation era with the retirement of the last A320-100 in service – F-GFKA operated by Air France. Airbus only produced 21 total -100 variants for three carriers Air Inter (7), British Caledonian (5) and Air France (8).

The arrival of the -200 with its greater range and efficiency killed off interest in the -100 right away. In fact the -100 was much maligned for its performance and there are even stories of BA operating payload restricted flights between Heathrow and Newcastle (< 218nm) due to Maximum Zero-Fuel Weight issues. [Unconfirmed]. Aesthetically the -100 and -200 only differ in that the -200 has wingtip fences. There is currently a Facebook petition in place to preserve an A320-100. To add you name to it please click here.

Below is a clip of an Air France -100 taking of from Paris (CDG), enjoy!