The Airbus A320 is the workhorse of Europe's aerospace industry, transporting more than a million people a day from business travelers to backpackers.
The 150-seat medium-haul jet is one of the world's most intensively used, together with its main rival, the Boeing 737.
The Germanwings aircraft that crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board, was also flying on the industry's most widely sold engines, made by French-U.S. venture CFM.