Airbus A319

[mora]

I'm sure the A320 can operate from the same airports as the A319. The likely reason they've chosen the A319 over the A320 for example, is that it's capacity fits their route structure. A320 would have been a more economical choice if they could fill it.

The A318 is an interesting plane btw. It's way overweight when compared to it's capasity but it still sells because of fleet commonality, even if it's much less economical than other models of the A320 series.

[Fishu]

Originally posted by beet1e
They use the A319-112 because  which sort of suggests it has a good climb rate. The flight was 2 hours or less, so not too much fuel to carry.

They all climb about the same.
Even if you could climb more with less fuel, the plane could still climb less and instead use less power to preserve the engine and fuel.
The planes computer creates a vertical profile for the route and that can be affected by the cost index value.
Each airline uses their own cost index.
Generally lower cost index value more range and best fuel efficiency, while higher value increases the speed and fuel usage.
Pilots can also opt to use a derated takeoff and/or climb profile.