A340 and A380 - Retirements All Around

Virgin Atlantic have confirmed that they will be retiring their remaining fleet of five A340’s while Air France have confirmed an intent to retire their fleet of ten A380’s by 2022. With so much happening what does this actually mean for the two aircraft types?

A340 Increasingly Unloved.

A major airline used to heavily promote that four engines were better than two with bold messaging across their aircraft; that airline is now predominantly a two-engine aircraft operator; how things change over time. For many the gradual reduction in A340 flying is only beaten by the notoriously slow speed of the aircraft that can add over an hour or more to a transatlantic flight.

At its peak usage, the A340 operated some 206,000 sectors in 2008, the equivalent to some 560 flights a day. 2008 was also the peak year for airlines operating the aircraft with 43 carriers spread around the globe; Lufthansa were, and continue to be the largest operator, operating some 31,200 flights in their peak year of 2010 which has now fallen back to some 14,500 flights in 2019.

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