Smooth Touchdown into Retirement, starring the A340-500 (Part B)

Continuing from Part A, this analysis will provide insights on why the Airbus A340-500 provide optimul efficency to commercial airlines. CLICK HERE to read Part A of analysis.

This is a scenario where lower capital expenditure cost is perhaps not outweighed by higher operating costs. It is vital to comprehend that on shorter sectors, the A340-500 is carrying around the extra weight(structural changes that strengthen the aircraft, etc) that allows it to operate ultra long haul sectors. When we compare it against a similarly sized widebody with similar capacity, we do not need the full extent of the A340-500's capability. It becomes illogical to carry around the extra weight. However, an airline will once again determine the return on investment and take appropriate action. In the A340-500's case, the aircraft perhaps, did not offer a return on investment that airlines were looking for. Therefore, airlines began to relegate and retire the type. The A340-500 cannot be converted to a freighter due to technical modifications that would render the conversion unfeasible. Airbus did not intend for the A340 Family to be freighters. Boeing, on the other hand, used the 777-200LR as the basis for the 777 Freighter. Furthermore, the higher maintenance costs of the Rolls Royce engines meant that finding secondary operators was challenging. While Rolls Royce has tried to reduce maintenance costs on the engines, it was inadequate. Fortunately, the A340-500 has found life as VIP transport aircraft, with its impressive range being a major selling point. The most popular destination is clearly the US, specifically New York. High fuel costs played a significant role in airlines accelerating the type's retirement. Furthermore, the easing of ETOPS restrictions made the 777-200LR more attractive. Airlines that had the 777-200LR on order switched their A340-500 flights and in some cases, even used the larger 777-300ER. Emirates and Etihad used their Boeing 777 fleet to replace the A340-500 on their long haul routes. Emirates began using their 777-200LR to launch US flights(You can read our Middle East and Turkey to US West Coast Analysis). Thereafter, they began using the 777-300ER and more lately the A380. Qatar Airways was the only Gulf Carrier to not order the A340-500. Qatar Airways operated the A340-600 and recently refurbished them in a high density layout(You can read more about our A340-600 Analysis here). It is possible that Arik Air could have been the final A340-500 operator had the market been more favourable to them. Azerbaijan Airlines on the other hand has replaced their long haul A340-500's with 787-8's. The A340-500's still fly from Baku to Dubai, but occasionally. We will now compare the capacity of the various A340-500's. We do not have information regarding the Air Canada/TAM configuration, so we will omit it. "Singapore 1" indicates the original configuration than Singapore Airlines used. "Singapore 2" indicates the all business class layout used by Singapore Airlines prior to them stopping flights.

We note that Emirates and Etihad are the only airlines to offer first class. Emirates has 16.67% larger cabin. This is why the mean number of first class seats is far lower than the number of seats Emirates and Etihad had. The mean number of business class seats is pushed downwards by Etihad Airways, since they have the smallest number of seats(28). The mean is pushed upwards by the all business class layout of Singapore 2. If we exclude Singapore 2, our mean is 46 seats. This is more representative of the 3 class layouts used by airlines. In both scenarios, Singapore Airlines has the largest number of business class seats and the largest number of non-economy class seats. Arik Air/Azerbaijan has the smallest number of non-economy class seats. Our standard deviation is representative of the all business class layout of Singapore 2. If we exclude this layout, our standard deviation is 13.9. This is once again more representative of the airline configurations. Thai Airways was the only carrier to offer a premium economy cabin. This explains the low statistics regarding premium economy. Thai Airways would have 155 non-business class seats which is smaller than the non-business class capacity of all other carriers, except for Singapore 1. The mean number of economy class pushed downwards by Singapore 1 and Thai Airways. Thai Airways has the smallest number of economy class seats(113). We shall exclude Singapore 2 and find the mean again. The mean is now 167 seats. This is more representative of the airline configurations, but it is still pushed downwards by Singapore 2 and Thai Airways. Emirates has the largest number of economy class Seats. Even though Arik Air/Azerbaijan have the smallest number of non-premium seats, they do not have the largest economy class cabin. A possible reason for this is with a spacious business and economy class seat. We will remove Singapore 1 and recalculate the standard deviation. The standard deviation is now 42.49. This is pushed upwards by the extreme values of Thai Airways and Singapore 2. The mean number of seats is quite representative of the configurations. We will however omit Singapore 1 again. The mean is now 226.6. This is far more representative. It is pushed down by Singapore 2. Singapore Airlines has the smallest total capacity. Emirates has the largest total capacity. The high standard deviation is representative of the extreme lower value of Singapore 1. Omitting Singapore 1, the standard deviation is now 26.89, which is representative of the extreme values of Singapore 1 and Emirates. We must note that in general the total number of seats of other carriers are closer to that of Emirates than Singapore 1 and 2. We can therefore conclude that Singapore Airlines has the oddball configuration that is extremely premium dense. Singapore Airlines used their A340-500's exclusively on ultra-long haul flights whereas the other carriers used them across their respective networks. In conclusion, the A340-500 had potential when it was launched however many events took place that were beyond the control of airlines and manufacturers and this ultimately led to its earlier retirement. While the 777-200LR sold in higher numbers, the poor sales of both these aircraft are more representative of the state of the ultra-long haul market and the associated economics. The bar graph below offers additional insight into the configurations.