THE A318 AND THE BOUNDARY OF THE SIMULATED FAMILY
The A318 completed the four-size single-aisle family at the smaller end. CFM reported Frontier receiving its first CFM56-5B-powered aircraft in July 2003. The release webpage and its dateline differ by one day, so this history uses the unambiguous month. The important event is the first delivery of the new variant, rather than an invented precision about the handover. [25, First Frontier delivery; page date and dateline]
The A318 belongs in an Airbus family history. It is not added to the Fenix operating inventory merely because a supplied manual covers A318/A319/A320/A321. The technical register identifies the supported airframes separately. Special capabilities such as steep approach make this boundary particularly important: an approval associated with another aircraft cannot be imported into a simulated A319, A320 or A321 as a general family capability. [21, Aircraft applicability; approach preparation and performance discipline]