Airbus A340

The Airbus A340 is a wide-body commercial passenger aircraft developed and manufactured by European aerospace company Airbus. In the following article, AloTrip will provide the most useful information about Airbus A340.

The Airbus A340 is a wide-body commercial passenger aircraft developed and manufactured by European aerospace company Airbus. Outstanding characteristics of A340 aircraft are four high-propeller jet engines and three-foot main landing gear. The Airbus A340 aircraft can accommodate up to 375 passengers in standard designs and has a range of 12,400 to 16,700 km.

Development

Studies of the A340 aircraft first appeared in 1981.

In June 1987, the A340 was rolled out as a long-range aircraft in support of the short-range A320 and mid-range A300.

Both designs A340 and A330 were launched on June 5, 1987, before the Paris Air Show. In addition to Lufthansa and International Hire Finance Corporation, there were 130 aircraft ordered from 10 other customers. Eighty-nine of the total orders were A340 models.

The maiden flight of the A340 was made on October 21, 1991 marking the beginning of a 2000-hour test flight program involving six aircraft.

The A340 received European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) on December 22, 1992 and was tracked by FAA on May 27, 1993.

In 2008, Airbus launched a dedicated jet version for its A340-200 airliner.

Operational history

The first variant of the A340, A340-200, was introduced and put into operation by Lufthansa Airlines in 1933. This aircraft began service on March 15, 1993.

In September 1994, Air Lanka (later renamed Sri Lankan Airlines) became Asia's launch customer with the first A340-300.

In 1999, the A340-300 was purchased by Boeing as part of an order for a Boeing 777.

British airline Virgin Atlantic was the first airline to use the A340 and operated several A340-300 airliners. In August 1997, the airline announced that it would be the worldwide launch customer for the new A340-600. Virgin's A340-600 flight was conducted in July 2002.

Singapore Airlines ordered 17 A340-300s and operated them until October 2013. In February 2004, its A340-500 aircraft performed the longest direct commercial flight between Singapore and Los Angeles.

The A340 is also frequently operated as a specialized transport for heads of state.

Airbus announced it would produce 127 A340s by 2016, after the production would cease.

Specifications

Variant	A340-200	A340-300	A340-500	A340-600
Cockpit crew	Two
Seats	261 (3-class) or 303 (30F + 273Y)	277 (3-class) or 335 (30F + 305Y)	293 or 313 (12F + 36J + 265Y)	326 or 380 (12F + 54J + 314Y)
Exit limit	420 / 375	375/440 / 375	375	440
Length	59.39 m / 194.85 ft	63.69 m / 208.96 ft	67.93 m / 222,87 ft	75.36 m / 247.24 ft
Wingspan	60.3 m / 197.83 ft		63.45 m / 208.17 ft
Wing	363.1 m 2 (3.908 sq ft), 29.7 ° sweep, 10 AR		437.3 m 2 (4.707 sq ft), 31.1 ° sweep, 9.2 AR
Height	17.03 m / 55.86 ft	16.99 m / 55.72 ft	17.53 m / 57.51 ft	17.93 m / 58.84 ft
Fuselage	5.287 m / 208.15 cabin width, 5.64 m / 18.5 ft outside width
Cargo volume	158.4 m 3 (5,590 cu ft)	132.4 m 3 (4.680 cu ft)	149.7 m 3 (5.290 cu ft)	201.7 m 3 (7.120 cu ft)