Airbus A340

The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-enginedwide-bodycommercial passengerairlinermanufactured by Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It seats between 261 and 380 passengers, and has a range between 6,700 and 9,000 NM(12400 to 16600 km). It is similar in design to the twin-engined A330. Initial A340 versions share the fuselage and wing of the A330 while later models are longer and have larger wings.

^{The first published studies for the A340 were as the TA11 in 1981, as shown in the November issue of Air International Magazine (coinciding with the display of the A300 at that year's Farnborough Airshow). Concept drawings of the A320 (SA 9) and A330 (TA9) were also published, along with estimated performance figures by Airbus Industrie.}

The A340 was launched in June 1987 as a long-range complement to the short-range A320 and the medium-rangeA300. At the time, Airbus's twinjets were at a disadvantage against aircraft such as the Boeing 747because of theETOPS problem as defined by the regulations: two-engined aircraft had to stay within 60 minutes' flying distance of a suitable diversion airport, which prevented them from competing on long over water routes. Furthermore, the existing ETOPS-immune wide-bodies in the 250-300 seat range, the trijet DC-10 and L-1011, were ageing, as they had been in service since the early 1970s.

The A340 was designed in parallel with the twin-engined A330: both aircraft share the same wing and similar fuselage structure, and borrow heavily from the advancedavionics and composite structure technology developed for the A320.

The A340 incorporates features such as fully digital fly-by-wire flight control system. It also uses sidesticks instead of yokes, with one sidestick to the left of the pilot and one to the right of the co-pilot. The A340's flight deck is highly similar to the A320s, and employs a common pilot rating with the A330. This enables A330/A340 flight crews to fly A320s and vice-versa with minimal extra training. This saves costs for airlines that operate both aircraft families. The cockpit used to feature CRT based glass cockpitdisplays on the A340-200 and A340-300 and is now based on LCD displays. Some composite primary structures are also used.

An A340 was the first commercial jet on which passengers could use their mobile phone during flight. In March 2008 Emirates Airlinesintroduced a system allowing passengers to make outgoing calls with their handset. Incoming calls are not possible and the system is not available at night or during landing and take-off.