[sukhoi-30mki]

[DManA]

Another kick in the stomach to Old European socialism.

[Paleo Conservative]

I never understood the reason for developing the A340-600 and A340-500. They were developed after the 777 was introduced, and have a large number of parts that are not common to the A330 models. They should have been developed as larger variants of the A330 using twin engines developed for the 777 program.

[TSgt]

I'll never forget when the first 777 landed at CVG. I was ON TOP of the control tower that day.

[GnL]

I was on the original A340 flight test program from 1991-1993 at Airbus working for CFM (engines). I flew on one of the first test aircraft to the Farnborough airshow in 1992, the Berlin Airshow in 1992 and accompanied the test aircraft to Yakutsk, Siberia in Feb/1993 for cold weather testing (temps were -40F).

The aircraft was originally intended for long, thin routes over water. Having 4 engines meant no need for ETOPS certification which was an early selling point. Airbus originally hoped airlines would use both the A340 and A330 and take advantage of some commonality but I don’t believe many airlines did this. When Boeing certified the 777 a couple years later I think it really took the wind out of the sails (and sales) of the A330/A340 program.

[Yo-Yo]

This is what happened to one of the last A340s built, when the ground crew forgot to chock the wheels before performing an engine runup test:

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I also remember seeing a news piece about how the 777 was demonstrated for sales. In the cabin Boeing had different areas set up labeled from all of the configurations for seating and room of their competitor's airliners so buyers could compare it the the 777. It was only a couple of rows for each. IIRC the Airbus 340 was one. Won over buyers so much that Boeing's competitors called it the “dirty pool. It was accurate.”