The A320 is a short-to-medium range commercial passenger aircraft manufactured by Airbus. First delivered in 1988, it pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire flight control systems in a commercial aircraft. With more than 3,000 planes of the A320 family built, it is the second best selling jet airliner family of all time, after its primary competition, the Boeing 737. Northwest Airlines owns 73 A320s, and the fleet is used for domestic short-medium haul routes along the United States, Canada and Mexico.