Update – Airbus A340

Airbus A340

Airbus lndustrie’s newest product, the A340 long range commercial airliner, is set to fly in October this year. It promises to be not only eye-catching in looks, but well able to satisfy the needs of customer airlines well into the future.

The combined A330/340 program was formally launched on 5 June 1987, by which time Airbus held 130 commitments for the two new aircraft from ten airlines, launch customer for the A340 being German carrier Lufthansa. The combined A330/340 project was somewhat unique, with Airbus taking advantage of component commonality (the two aircraft share the same wing, cockpit and tail unit, and essentially the same fuselage section) to produce two very different aircraft in concept for two quite different markets; the four engined A340 has been designed for long distance services and the twinjet A330 for shorter ranged, higher density airline operations.

At the time of writing the first A340 prototype was fast nearing completion at Airbus’ Toulouse facilities. The A340 project was put back by the four month strike at British Aerospace (which designs and builds all Airbus wings) so the development and production schedule was revised so that first flight will now be achieved this October. But to achieve certification of the aircraft by December 1992 (the revised target date) Airbus will have to build one additional test aircraft, so that six aircraft will now be used in the flight test program. Full recovery of the joint A330/340 program will not be achieved until aircraft 114 rolls of the production line in 1994.

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