Country of origin:

International

Description:

Four-engine long-range commercial airliner

Power Plant:

Four 34,000 lbst General Electric / Snecma CFM56-5C turbofans

Specifications:

History:

Airbus Industrie recognised the need for an aircraft operating what was described as ‘long-thin’ routes and set about designing an aircraft capable of carrying 295 passengers in a three-class configuration over a distance of 13,250 km (8,233 miles), this being a four-engine wide-body aircraft. It made its first flight in October 1991 and entered service with Lufthansa and Air France in 1993, at that time 115 being ordered by 14 operators. Two variants were designed, the A340-200 able to carry 262 passengers over 14,360 km (8,923 miles), which first flew on 1 April 1992, and the A340-300 which was the initial design.

At the same time Airbus developed the A330 series, which was essentially a two-engine variant of the A340, this being designed for the medium to long-range high-density market and capable of carrying up to 440 passengers. Six aircraft A340 aircraft were involved in the flight test program, four A340-300s and two A340-200s. Power was provided by the CFM56 series engine, this unit being conceived in the 1960s as a ‘ten-tonne thrust’ turbofan designed to produce 34,000 lb of thrust. The CFM56-5C had a 1.82 m (6 ft) diameter fan.

The A340-200 had the ability to carry 26 LD3 containers or 9 pallets under the floor, whereas the A340-300 had the ability to carry 32 LD3 containers or 11 pallets. Both variants were available in a combi configuration. During testing one aircraft (F-WWDA – c/n 2) was flown to the North Pole to check the capabilities of the FMS and navigation systems.

Further variants were the A340-600 with a 15.96 m (52 ft 4 in) fuselage extension over the A340-200. Lufthansa was the largest operator of the A340, having 59 examples overall. The A340-500 was the longest range version and first flew on 11 February 2002. It was to commence service with Air Canada but entered service with Emirates on its non-stop services from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to New York, USA. The A340-500IGW had a range of 17,000 km (10,563 miles) and a max take-off weight of 381,018 kg (840,000 lb). In 2011 Airbus announced production of the series would conclude and a total of 377 aircraft was completed.

The A340-600 was designed to replace early generation Boeing 747s and was able to carry 379 passengers in a three-class layout but had a larger cargo volume. At one stage in the 1990s Qantas was considered a potential customer as it operated a number of routes for which the A340 was considered ideal but with the financial situation of the airline at the time no orders for the type were forthcoming.

On 16 June 1993 an A340-200 known as the “World Ranger” flew from the Paris Air Show in France to Auckland, New Zealand in 21 hours and 32 mins; and returned in 21 hours 46 mins after a five-hour stopover, this being the first non-stop flight between Europe and New Zealand and the longest non-stop flight by an airliner at the time.

For 13 years from about 2000 the Australian Defence Force, through a contract with Adgold Ltd, a company in Brisbane, QLD, chartered from Hi Fly, two Airbus A340s to convey troops to the Middle East, this company previously being known as Air Luxor. These aircraft included CS-TQM, an A340-313 (c/n 117 – ex A6-EYC, 7T-VKL, D-AIA, N737712, 9V-SJF, F-WWJM), it being stated in January 2014 that Adgold had provided 200 return services for the ADF from various sites in Australia carrying 100,000 troops for various Governments worldwide, including 282 missions to Al Minhad airbase in Afghanistan.  An A330 was also operated, this being A330-322 CS-TMT, which was noted operating with the ADF during Exercise Talisman Sabre in 2009.

Although the A340 series has been extensively used around the world by many airlines, none have been obtained and registered in this part of the Pacific but many have been visitors to Australia and New Zealand. However, in late 2017 and early 2018, following problems with Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners Rolls Royce 1000 engines, early unscheduled maintenance on some of the engines having to be carried out, an Airbus A340-500 CS-TFX (c/n 912 – ex F-WJKI, VT-VJE, F-WWTL) and an A340-313 9H-FOX (c/n 185 – ex EI-GAC, A6-ERP, D-AGBM, 9V-SJI, F-WWJK) were leased, along with A330-223 CS-TQW, from Portuguese charter and lease operator Hi Fly on wet lease for four months during the maintenance period, these aircraft operating twice daily Auckland, NZ to Sydney, NSW, and Auckland to Perth, WA services.

Another operator in the Pacific area has been Air Tahiti Nui which operated A340-200 F-OITN. This aircraft originally entered service with Air France in November 1993 as F-GLZD and in 1998 was overhauled and sold to Airbus Industrie until a seven-year lease was signed in May 1998. The aircraft flew into Tahiti’s Faa’a airport on 14 November 1998,  entering service on 20 November that year, flying from Papeete to Los Angeles and later commencing services to Tokyo in Japan. It was fitted with 32,200 lbst General Electric / Snecma CFM56 engines.