Flagship model to compete with the Boeing 747 in its release, the Airbus A340 however had a different careers of their American rivals, when it had its production ended in 2011 with a total of 377 aircraft. What are the reasons why such a modern aircraft and well developed to have as underperforming market as it well satisfy your customers?
Reason 1 - Your biggest competitor, 777. Yes this aircraft was responsible, and by declining sales of Airbus, since both were basically the same routes, taking the same number of passengers, and landing at the same airport.
Reason 2 - Their engines - They are efficient, but as mentioned above your direct competitor was doing the same things as him but with a crucial difference, instead of using four Boeing used only two engines.
Reason 3 - ETOPS - 30 years ago transatlantic flights were only allowed on planes that had more than two engines, so came the famous DC-10, MD-11, 747 and many others. That when Airbus was to expand its fleet to wide body aircraft (wide corridors), include the A340 as quad-jets for long distances and high demand routes, but after the regulation has changed, because of the increased reliability of turbofan engines, and bijatos might fly across the Atlantic. The "brother" A330 was able to fit in the same kind of flight before that was in charge of the A340.
Reason 4 - Canibalismo- not cannibalism to the letter, but one where the companies launch models in its fleet that end up stealing market that sometimes not even as old model, such as the 777-300 and 747-400, the A330-300 and A330-200. In the case of the two Airbus has the same fuselage, the difference in the number of engines bringing more savings to airlines operate obviously with two engine as noted before.
Reason 5 - Maintenance - Place 2 more engines on an aircraft increases the complexity and time required to complete a quick check, it is also more susceptible to minor incidents, such as the ingestion of a bird, dirt on the track or stall compressor . The cost of a new engine is very high, and it is usually better to replace than repair, the cost per hour worked.
This was another reason given for the Airbus A340 did not have the expected market success. It is a good aircraft with an excellent considered reliability index, used by many companies throughout his life, but a company has to be profitable, and that it seeks ways to reduce your spending. There are now companies such as Lufthansa, using the A340, but is only on routes that justify spending on an aircraft of this size and consumption.
