The Airbus A.320 is the major version of the A.320 series of narrow body airliners. It has proved very popular and over 10,000 have been manufactured in factories in France, Germany, China and the United States.

Initial planning for the A.320 began in 1977 with the support of the French, British and West German governments to develop an airliner in competition with American manufacturers, Boeing and Douglas.

It was launched in March 1984 and the first A.320 made its first flight on 22 February 1987.

They began entering service in 1988 and 10,616 of all versions had been manufactured by September 2022.

Air New Zealand has 23 Airbus A.320s in its fleet in 2020, in both 168 seat international and 171 seat domestic configurations.

This model represents ZK-OJA flying with Air New Zealand in the ‘Airline to Middle Earth’ livery in 2004.

Revell 1/144 kit with PAS decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in June 2021.