Routes Trivia: The Airbus Long-Ranger

When the Airbus A340-500 entered service in 2003 it presented new opportunities for the world’s long-haul carriers thanks to its long-range. At the time it offered the longest flight envelope of any widebodied commercial airliner and its four engines meant it was exempt from restrictive ETOPS legislation. This meant that new non-stop city pairs that previously could not be flown were now possible thanks to the enormous range of the new airliner.

For some airlines it was an opportunity not to be missed and the chance to make moves into new markets - perhaps the A340-500s most famous project was the introduction of new routes by Singapore Airlines from Singapore Changi Airport to Los Angeles and New York. However, many airlines were concerned over performance issues with the aircraft and three years later the arrival of the more-efficient and longer-range Boeing 777-200LR, effectively killed-off the A340-500 as a commercial airline programme.

We thought we should search OAG’s Schedules iNet database to see which airlines across the globe are still operating the A340-500 and on which routes they are planning to use the type this month. According to the OAG data a total of 1,168 flights are planned with the A340-500 in April with five different operators continuing to utilise the type, including some of the world’s most famous air carriers.

It is launch customer Emirates Airline that remains the largest operator of the A340-500 with 770 flights planned during April with the ten aircraft it still operates. Interestingly, the type is not being used on many of the long-distance routes it was originally perceived as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has subsequently invested in the 777-200LR to offer better commonality with its giant and expanding fleet of 777s variants. Emirates is instead using the type to offer the right capacity and right service in particular markets. According to the schedule, Emirates is this month using the A340-500 on flights from its Dubai International Airport hub to Abidjan, Accra, Beijing, Beirut, Dar Es Salaam, Kuwait, Lagos, Moscow, Mumbai, Nairobi, Seychelles, St Petersburg, Tunis and Vienna.

Fellow UAE carrier Etihad Airways is also a major operator of the A340-500 with four units operated alongside the larger A340-600 variant. The Abu Dhabi-based airline received the aircraft in 2006 and has been using them on a mix of local routes and to offer long-distance, non-stop links to North America and Australia. The carrier is due to operate 141 flights with the type during April on routes between Abu Dhabi International Airport and Casablanca, Frankfurt, Geneva, Islamabad, Lahore, London, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Riyadh and Sydney. It is planning to retire the type from service this year.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) helped bring a raft of publicity for the ultra long-haul A340-500 when it inaugurated operations with the type in early 2004. The carrier specially branded its aircraft the ‘A345 Leadership’ and used them to introduce the world’s two longest non-stop flights from Singapore to Los Angeles in March 2004 and then from Singapore to Newark Liberty International in June 2004. SIA continues to use its five A340-500s on these two routes, offering a planned 52 flights this month, however in 2008 it reconfigured the aircraft in an all-Business Class cabin with 100 of its award-winning premium seats in a 1-2-1 forward facing layout. The Singapore – New York flight at 8,285 nautical miles (15,344 km) remains the world’s longest commercial airline service, an 18 hour 30 minute sector.

Thai Airways International was the first customer for the upgraded A340-500HGW which had an increased range of 9,000 nautical miles and a Maximum Take-off Weight of 380 tonnes. It took delivery of the test aircraft in April 2007 joining three other aircraft it had received between April and October 2005. The airline has used the type on a number of routes during seven years of service but is now utilising the four-engined jets on its link from its Bangkok base to Los Angeles, with a total of 42 rotations planned for this month, which is scheduled to mark the end of its operations with the type.

Nigerian carrier Arik Air is the sole African carrier using the A340-500. The airline has two examples in its fleet having agreed to acquire aircraft originally destined for Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines. These were delivered in December 2008 and April 2009 and are flown on its behalf by Portuguese ACMI operator Hi Fly. The airline has 111 flights planned with the type during April on routes from Lagos to Abu Dhabi, London and New York.

Alongside the current operators Air Canada and TAM Airlines have also operated flights with the A340-500 for at least one schedule season. Air Canada operated two aircraft between July 2004 and October 2007 mainly on flights between Toronto and Hong Kong but also on some schedules from the Canadian city to Beijing, Frankfurt, London, New Delhi, Shanghai and Tokyo. It disposed of its aircraft to Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines which used them between November 2007 and May 2009 on routes between Sao Paulo and the European cities of Frankfurt and Milan.

A potential future operator of the A340-500 is Venezuelan carrier Conviasa who earlier this year agreed a tentative deal to acquire Etihad’s fleet of four aircraft when they are retired from service. The current status of this deal is unclear as Etihad Airways has subsequently confirmed plans to deploy two aircraft on a new route from Abu Dhabi to Washington DC in March 2013. The announcement this week that the European Commission has added Conviasa to its blacklist of airlines banned from flying into European Union skies would also impact its planned operations if it acquired the type.

The table below shows the total number of scheduled departures that have been operated by Airbus A340-500s since its entry into service up until the end of this month. The data is based upon planned operation and therefore is not a precise analysis of the type’s flight operations. From November 2009, the GDS shows that Iberia utilised A340-500 equipment on some of its flights to support its North and South American network mainly serving links from Madrid to Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, New York, Santiago and Sao Paulo until April 2010. This was in fact a code used by Iberia to signify an internal configuration change to its A340-600 fleet and it did not operate the smaller variant and as such those figures have been removed from this analysis.