Airbus A340

If a big Airbus passes over with four engines under its wings and no upper deck, you are probably looking at an A340. It is the four-engined twin of the far more common A330, built from the same parts for long ocean crossings [3]. Airbus confirmed the end of production in November 2011 [7] [9], so every one you see now is a veteran.

Two aircraft from one design

Airbus developed the A330 and A340 side by side. Both models share the same basic fuselage, wing and tail [3]. Their cockpits also have much in common with each other and with the A320 family [3].

The split was about engines. In the 1980s a twin-engined airliner flying over the ocean had to stay within a set flying time of a diversion airport, under rules known as ETOPS [6] [11]. Four-engined aircraft were not bound by those rules, which let them cross the Atlantic and other oceans without that limit [6]. So the A340 got four CFM56 engines where the A330 got two larger ones [11], and the A330 took the medium to long-range work [3].

The first A340 flew on 25 October 1991 [6] [11]. Europe certified the A340-211 and A340-311 on the same day, 22 December 1992, both on CFM56-5C2 engines [2]. Lufthansa and Air France put the first A340s into service in March 1993 [6] [11].

The -200 is the short one, at 59.39 m, and the -300 is 63.69 m long; both have a 60.3 m wingspan [4].

The stretched A340-500 and -600

Airbus later built two larger versions with longer fuselages [6], and with Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines in place of the CFM56 [2] [5].

The A340-600 came first. It took off from Toulouse on its first flight on 23 April 2001 [10]. With 380 seats it was, at the time, Airbus's largest airliner [10]. Europe certified the A340-642 on 21 May 2002 [2], and Virgin Atlantic took its first A340-600 in July 2002 [14]. It is the longest A340 by some distance [5].

The A340-500 was built for range, and Emirates' first was ready at the end of September 2003 [13]. Singapore Airlines used the -500 for nonstop flights between Singapore and Newark from June 2004 [6] [11]. Then the world's longest scheduled route, it ended in late 2013, when the airline blamed the cost of fuel [15].

Why production stopped

On 10 November 2011 Airbus confirmed it had stopped building the A340 [7] [9].

The reasons were the ones that had shaped the A340 in the first place, turned around. AVweb put its end down to regulatory changes and the economy [8]: the ETOPS rules had loosened, letting twins fly further from a diversion airport, and the cost of fuelling and maintaining four engines told against the A340 [8]. In all, 377 were built [6] [11] [12].

How to spot one

Count the engines first. Four engines, two under each wing, puts it in a small group of big jets alongside the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380 [12]. The 747 and A380 each have an upper deck, which their own articles explain; the A340 is a single long tube.

Look under the belly. Every A340 has a third main landing gear leg in the middle of the fuselage, between the two four-wheel bogies under the wings [4] [5]. On the -200 and -300 it has two wheels; on the -500 and -600 it has four [4] [5] [12].

A340 or A330? Because the two share a fuselage, wing and tail [3], the engines are the main difference [12]. Two engines means an A330; four means an A340. If you can see the wheels, the A340's centre gear leg is a second clue [4].

Which A340? Flight trackers use a separate code for each version: A342 for the -200, A343 for the -300, A345 for the -500 and A346 for the -600 [1]. Length is hard to judge in the sky, so the centre gear is the better clue in a photograph: four wheels there point to a -500 or -600 [5] [12].

Over Ireland

One Lufthansa A340 called in at Shannon in June 2025. Flying from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, it diverted there with an ill passenger [16] [17].

Lufthansa planned to retire its A340-600s in 2026, with a final flight set for October [18] [19]. Treat that as a snapshot taken in October 2026: fleets change quickly as airlines retire four-engined jets.

From the archive

Airbus still publishes its airport planning manuals for both A340 families, with dimensioned drawings of each version [4] [5]. They show the centre landing gear that sets the A340 apart from the A330 [4] [5].

In photographs

Look closer at the shapes, details and liveries. Every photograph links to its original and credits its creator.