the first plane in the a320 family was the a320, which was launched in february 1981. it first flew on 22 march 1984 and the first a320 was delivered in 1984. the family got bigger over time, and there are now three other aircraft in the family: the a321 (first delivered 1990), the a319 (1996) and the a318 (2003). the a320 was the first airliner to have fly-by-wire flight control systems. it was also the first commercial airliner to have side-stick controls. (a side-stick is a small joystick which is used to fly the plane instead of a yoke.)