The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus.
In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with the A330 twinjet. In June 1987, Airbus launched both designs with their first orders and the A340-300 took its maiden flight on 25 October 1991. It was certified along with the A340-200 on 22 December 1992 and both versions entered service in March 1993 with launch customers Lufthansa and Air France. The larger A340-500/600 were launched on 8 December 1997; the A340-600 flew for the first time on 23 April 2001 and entered service on 1 August 2002.
Airbus A340
Compared to the A340 quadjet (flying), the lighter A330 (on ground) has two engines and no centre-line wheel bogie
The A330/A340 shares a common flight deck with the A320.
An A340-200 demonstrator at the 1992 Farnborough Air Show
In aviation, the flight length or flight distance refers to the distance of a flight. Aircraft do not necessarily follow the great-circle distance, but may opt for a longer route due to weather, traffic, to utilise a jet stream, or to refuel.
Lufthansa considers the Embraer E-190 a short-haul airliner.
Lufthansa considers the Airbus A320 family a medium-haul airliner.
Lufthansa defines the Boeing 747-8 as a long-haul airliner.