Smooth Touchdown into Retirement Starring the A340-500 Part A

By Shihal Sapry

With only a handful of aircraft in passenger service with airlines, the sun has set on the A340-500. The A340-500 is a stretch of the A340-300, but is often seen as a shrink of the A340-500. Airbus developed the A340-500 alongside with the A340-600. The A340-500 allowed for ultra long haul flying with no ETOPS restrictions. At the time of its launch, ETOPS was quite restrictive and 4 engined aircraft were preferable for longer haul flying.

The A340-500 competes directly with the 777-200LR. The 777-200LR is said to be more economical than the A340-500. There are currently 59 777-200LR's in commercial service with airlines, compared to 34 A340-500's that were delivered. Furthermore, the 777-200LR became the base for the 777 Freighter. There are no outstanding orders for the 777-200LR as of now. We will not discuss 777 Freighter orders.

Rolls Royce was the exclusive engine supplier, with the A340-600 using the same engines. Maintenance costs on these engines are on average higher than the 777-200LR/777-300ER. The higher cost is NOT attributed to the aircraft having 4 engines.

Air Canada was the launch customer for the type. However, Air Canada was going through financial difficulties so Emirates ended up becoming the launch customer. Air Canada flew their A340-500's and subsequently replaced them with the 777-200LR. TAM airlines briefly flew 2 A340-500's, which were on lease from Air Canada.

Emirates, at the time used the type to introduce flights to New York and Sydney. Sir Tim Clark said, that at the time, the A340-500 was the only aircraft that could fly these routes. As the 777-200LR and 777-300ER entered the fleet, the A340-500's were relegated to medium haul flying. Emirates began to withdraw their A340-500's from service citing high fuel costs. This made long and ultra long haul flights unattractive for the type.

This graph depicts that Emirates is the largest operator of A340-500 before its retirement. (source: airline routes)

Singapore Airlines flew the aircraft from Singapore to Los Angeles and Singapore to New York. They initially used a 2 class layout with only 181 seats before resorting to an all Business Layout with 100 seats. High fuel costs prompted Singapore Airlines to stop flying this route in 2013. Singapore Airlines then returned their A340-500 fleet to Airbus upon placing their A350 order.

Singapore Airlines reverted one stop flights with 777-300ER and A380 equipment for US service. Singapore Airlines currently flies only from Singapore to San Francisco non-stop onboard Airbus A350-900 equipment. Singapore Airlines will use the A350-900ULR to re-launch flights between Singapore and Los Angeles and New York.

Thai Airways used the type to launch non-stop flights to New York and Los Angeles. They have been replaced by a fuel stop in Seoul. Thai Airways cited the high fuel costs making the flight uneconomical. Thai Airways also phased out their A340-600 fleet. Thai Airways ended up withdrawing from the US market and does not offer one stop connections like Singapore Airlines does.

Etihad used the type to launch non-stop service to the US(New York, Chicago and Washington DC). The Boeing 777-200LR has subsequently replaced the A340-500. Etihad's final A340-500 service was in 2017 on the Abu Dhabi to Rabat route.

Hi-Fly has two A340-500's(CS-TFX and CS-TFW) in their fleet. These aircraft were on lease to Arik Air. Arik Air operated the type from Lagos to London, Johannesburg and New York. These A340-500's were part of an order from the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher Airlines planned to use the aircraft to launch direct service from India to the USA. Airk Air's aircraft were part of the Kingfisher Airlines order. It is possible that Arik Air received a very competitive purchase price.

Arik Air unfortunately experienced financial troubles and their A340-500's were returned to Hi-Fly. There are rumours regarding one A340-500 still parked at Lagos airport, albeit in a poor condition. It is possible that these aircraft would still be flying today, if Arik Air did not experience financial difficulties.

Azerbaijan Airlines used the aircraft to launch non-stop flights from Baku to New York. The smaller 787-8 now flies the route. The Azerbaijan A340-500's were also part of the Kingfisher Airlines order. This is why the interior is red themed. The configuration of Arik Air and Azerbaijan in terms of seats and interior trims is the same. Azerbaijan Airlines probably has the coolest aircraft in terms of appearance, with their "Superman" trim. The aircraft has a bright blue exterior paint job and bright red cabin interior.

Our conclusions regarding operations.

All airlines ordered the aircraft for its intended purpose. All aircraft were used to launch Ultra Long Haul flights from respective airline hubs. The A340-500 therefore operated as per design, which is what Airbus can take away from this. The explosion of the global fuel price worked against ultra-long haul flying and the A340-500. Airbus could not have forecasted this. The 777-200LR and 777-300ER over-performed on specification at Entry Into Service. The easing of ETOPS restrictions favoured twinjets(primarily the 777 Family). All these factors combined helped seal the fate for the A340-500.

When the oil price began to escalate, airlines cut back on ultra long haul routes. Ofcourse, there was 9/11 and the Financial Crisis of 2008 which further depressed ultra long haul flying. This meant that the full performance of the A340-500 was not fully required and the A340-300/-600 could be deployed on ex-A340-500 routes. Airlines would have determined whether the lower capital expenditure of the A340-500 outweighed the higher fuel and maintenance costs. The number of active A340-500's in airline service speaks to this.

Please stay tuned to our Instagram promotions to know the publish date of Part B analysis. You may also subsribe to our email list to be updated whenever new articles are published.