airbus to terminate a340 program
 

on aviation week I saw that airbus annouced it is going to to terminate the A340 program due to lack of any recent sales..


I had thought the A340 was a popular aircraft. but oh well..... I was a little surprised by this


what are others reactions to this development?

Seemed pretty inevitable considering Airbus is struggling to make any new sales. Not to mention that they have other aircraft in the current line-up or coming which meet pretty similar demands.

The airframe was obsolete a long time ago, outdone by big twins from the 773 to Airbus' own A333 series. It stuck around this long just in case any buyers had a phobia about two-engine ETOPs ops, but that bias seems over.

Only 4 planes on backlog. So it's probably not a huge surprise.

any idea how much more efficient the A343 and entire a340 series was in comparison to 747

Shame, the A340 is the only Airbus I actually like... :(

Didn't they have a burst of sales in the early 1990's when the competition was the MD-11?

That's when the A340 was introduced, in early 1990s. But both the A340 and the MD11 were rendered moot by the approval of big twins for overwater / ETOPs work. In fact B767s began to dominate the North Atlantic in the late 1980s, after the A340 design was locked but before deliveries began. And to top it all off the first-gen A340, the -200, was a fuel hog that didn't hit its performance spec (like the MD11), reducing interest even further.

The thing was a rocket though. I remember riding one of the first ones IAD-CDG in 1994, about a year after they came online, and we made it in under six hours.

Shame...I just flew one on VS last week. Very comfy. But the 340 is a gas hog.

I have always admired the A340s. Definitely had fun riding Iberia A346 with the meaty Trent engines. Longest AC too, longer than any 747/A380.
You can also blame this cancellation on the 777, Boeing started building the 1000th frame a few days ago.

IB just "baptised" a new A340/600 in Lima 3 days ago

Link in Spanish

Called Rio Amazonas it is one of only 3 IB planes to not be named after a famous Spaniard or a Spanish city.

Its first flight was full of Spanish dignitaries and journalists and followed the route of the Amazon back to Madrid

Despite it being only 3 days old, I am sure that it will have no IFE in Y and the interior décor will resemble those curtains that my gran had in her lounge in the 70's.

Fond memories myself of riding a LAN A340 into SCL the first time I came to South America, floating down over the snow-capped Andes before landing was spectacular and the A340 seemed to do it with such grace.

My fondest memory on one is the invite from the pilot to move from my row 1 seat to a cockpit seat for LIM takeoff.

They have a great range and a strong capacity, but the fuel consumption really skews the profit margin on the 340. If that aircraft is not loaded to capacity with PAX and the airline isn't pricing themselves out of the market on seats, a long haul in a 340 is most likely going to end in a loss or a very very small profit (say, a few hundred dollars). Other aircraft are just more efficient.