Even rarer than the A380 and 747: the A340 is on the way to 'extinction': who you can still fly it with and where
We have written about how flying Airbus A380s and, even more so, Boeing 747s is becoming increasingly [...]
Swiss
Lufthansa
Star Alliance
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We have written about how Flying Airbus A380s and, even more so, Boeing 747s is becoming increasingly difficult. Two-engine aircraft are replacing four-engines on long-haul routes, and the trend will lead to the extinction of what are now considered the kings and queens of the skies.
But there is one model of airplane that is now very difficult to spot, and traveling in it is even more of a rarity than with 747s and A380s. It is the Airbus A340, which is now almost 'extinct' except for the small fleets on the roster of only four companies worldwide-Lufthansa, Swiss, Edelweiss Air and Mahan Air.
Lufthansa has the largest fleet and the only one still deploying the A340-600 in the skies, the 'stretched' version of the A340. The other models in circulation are all from the -300 series, since the smaller -200 went out of business back in the late 1990s, because with a carrying capacity around 250 passengers it could not pay back how much fuel its four engines 'sucked'.
Lufthansa's 10 Airbus A340 -600s are deployed partly in Frankfurt and partly in Munich. From the German airline's main hub they fly to Chicago (from March 20, daily), Houston (daily), Hong Kong (daily) and Bogota (5 times a week); from Munich, to Boston (daily), Miami (daily), New York JFK (daily). They have an average age of about 16 years, with the oldest delivered in 2004 and the newest in 2009.
They all have four classes of service on board, but they are in two different configurations: 8 seats in First (1+2+1), 56 in Business (2+2+2), 28 in Premium Economy (2+3+2) and 189 in Economy (2+4+2) for a total of 291 seats, or 8 in First, 44 in Business, 32 in Premium Economy and 213 in Economy (for a total of 297 seats). The A340-600 has the distinction of being. the only passenger aircraft to have the five toilets available to Economy Class passengers located below the main deck and accessed via a staircase.
Instead, the A340-300s, all based in Frankfurt, are 17. They are all in an identical three-class configuration with 30 seats in Business (2+2+2), 28 in Premium Economy (2+3+2) and 221 in Economy (2+4+2). They have an average median age of about 24 years, with the oldest in service delivered in 1996 and the newest in 2001. They fly daily Frankfurt to Beijing, Cape Town, Chennai, Denver, Seattle, Tehran, New York JFK, Atlanta, Boston. Three times a week at Lagos, five times a week at Dallas, four times a week at Chicago (starting March 16), three times a week at Nairobi, Rio De Janeiro and San Jose.
Swiss, on the other hand, has only four A340-300s. Retrofitted with a Premium Economy section, they will go out of service in 2025, when as many A350-900s will take their place in the Swiss carrier's fleet. On board they have four classes of service, with 8 seats in First (1+2+1), 42 seats in Business (1+2+1), 21 seats in Premium Economy (2+3+2) and 144 seats in Economy (2+4+2). Currently, they are employed for connect Zurich to two destinations in Far East Asia on a daily basis: Hong Kong and Shanghai. From May 7, the A340-300 will be used to inaugurate the new route to Seoul, while a Boeing 777-300ER will fly to Hong Kong.
Edelweiss Air is the leisure 'arm' of Swiss and the five A340-300s in the fleet acquired them right from his older sister. They are all in two classes of service, but four have 27 seats in Business Class (1+2+1) and 287 in Economy (2+4+2), for a total of 314, and one instead has 29 seats in Business and 271 in Economy for a total of 300. Interestingly, the Business cabin is not located at the front of the plane, but at the wing in between the two Economy cabins. (Photo Anna Zvereva CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php)
The destinations of the A340s with the edelweiss on the tail rudder include eminently touristy places such as the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Hurghada, Santo Domingo, Las Vegas, Havana, and Cancun, but also others such as Cape Town, Denver, Vancouver and Calgary. In summer you may also see them in the Mediterranean or Canary Islands. All operate from Zurich.
Mahan Air is Iran's second largest airline after the national airline Iran Air. Banned from European skies due to security concerns, it has a network stretching from Istanbul to the Asian Far East. It has eleven A340s in its fleet: one from the -200 series, seven from the -300 series and three from the -600 series.
The -600 are ex-Virgin Atlantic with 45 seats in Business Class in 1+1+1 configuration and 263 seats in Economy (2+4+2) for 308 total seats. The -300 are ex-Lufthansa and ex-Turkish Airlines, with 30 seats in Business (2+2+2) and 261 or 269 seats in Economy for a total of 291-299 seats. They fly mainly from Tehran to Thailand, Malaysia and China.
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