Airbus A340-600

The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engined widebody commercial passenger airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. a subsidiary of EADS. It seats between 261 and 380 passengers, and has a range between 6,700 and 9,000 nmi. It is similar in design to the twin-engined A330. Initial A340 versions share the fuselage and wing of the A330 while later models are longer and have larger wings.

Designed as an early generation 747 replacement, the A340-600 flies 380 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (419 in 2 class) over 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km). It provides similar passenger capacity to a 747 but with 25% more cargo volume, and at lower trip and seat costs. First flight of the A340-600 was made on 23 April 2001. Virgin Atlantic began commercial services in August 2002.

The A340-600 is more than 10 m longer than a basic -300, making it the longest airliner in the world; more than four metres longer than the Boeing 747-400. It is powered by four 56,000 lbf (249 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 556 turbofans. It also has an additional four-wheel undercarriage on the fuselage center-line to cope with the increased MTOW. Unlike Boeing aircraft design philosophy, Airbus has made provisions for freeing additional upper deck main cabin space, by providing optional arrangements for additional facilities such as "crew rest areas," "galleys," and "lavatories" upon the "stretched" A340 aircraft's lower decks.

In April 2007, The Times reported that Airbus had advised carriers to reduce cargo in the forward section by five tonnes in order to compensate for overweight first and business class sections. The additional weight causes the aircraft's center of gravity to move forward thus reducing cruise efficiency. Airlines affected by the advisory are considering demanding compensation from Airbus.[10]

The A340-600HGW (High Gross Weight) version first flew on 18 November 2005[11] and was certified on 14 April 2006.[12] It has an MTOW of 380 tonnes and a range of up to 7,900 NM (14,600 km), made possible by strengthened structure, increased fuel, more powerful engines and new manufacturing techniques like laser beam welding. The A340-600HGW is powered by four 60,000 lbf (267 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 560 turbofans.