In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with the A330 twinjet. Keeping the eight-abreast economy cross-section of the A300, the early A340-200/300 has a similar airframe to the A330. Differences include four 151 kN (34,000 lbf) CFM56s instead of two high-thrust turbofans to bypass ETOPS restrictions on trans-oceanic routes, and a three-leg main landing gear instead of two for a heavier 276 t (608,000 lb) MTOW. Both airliners have fly-by-wire controls, which was first introduced on the A320, as well as a similar glass cockpit. The later A340-500/600 have a larger wing and are powered by 275 kN (62,000 lbf) Rolls-Royce Trent 500 for a heavier 380 t (840,000 lb) MTOW. The shortest A340-200 measured 59.4 m (195 ft), and could cover 12,400 km / 6,700 nmi with 210-250 seats in 3-class. The most common A340-300 reached 63.7 m (209 ft) to accommodate 250-290 passengers and had a 13,500 km / 7,300 nmi range. The A340-500 was 67.9 m (223 ft) long to seat 270-310 over 16,670 km / 9,000 nmi, the longest-range airliner at the time. The longest A340-600 was stretched to 75.4 m (247 ft), then the longest airliner, to accommodate 320-370 passengers over 14,450 km / 7,800 nmi. Formore details on the design, development, production, history and variants, click here. The specifications below are for the 340-300 model.
