Originally Posted by jetBlueNYFL
Wow, jetBlueFA...thanks for that rumor news!!! Very, very interesting stuff to say the least. Keeping in mind it is not official but very interesting stuff. The A319 would be a great idea - but from a MX and pilot standpoint - would it be a different type than the A320 or is the fleet commonality very similar that it won't matter?
Type rating for A-318, A-319, A-320 and A-321 all the same, so should be fine from pilots' point of view.
They're really all the same a/c and are known collectively as the A-320 family. It's just a matter of the length of the fuselage, really.
If these were Boeing aircraft, they would be classified as 737-700, 737-800 and so forth (although the type rating for the 737-200 through 737-500 is different than the 737 NG types (-600 variant and above) because the earlier models do not have what is known as a glass cockpit (LCD screens vs. the traditional "steam gauge" displays)). All the A-320 family, though, have the same "fly by wire" glass cockpit.
The A-319 is the longest range of the A-320 family.