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A340 Specifications

The Airbus A340 aircraft is a low-wing four-engined jet airliner developed and assembled by Airbus Industrie.  The A340 was developed alongside the twin-engined A330, as discussed on our A340 history page, Both the A330, A340 200 and A340 300 share the same wide body fuselage and wing design.  The A340 500 and A340 600 which were developed later had a larger wing as they were designed for long non-stop flight routes. Coming in four models of varying fuselage length, the A340 was developed for long distance flight at a time when the long distance twin jets of today were yet to make their mark.  The variants numbered as; A340 200, A340 300, A340 500 and the A340 600 as shown in the table below all shared a common airframe with slight differences between them.

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The A340 200 was the only model to have its wing-span greater than its’ fuselage length.

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The A340 200 was the only model to have its wingspan greater than its’ fuselage length.

The wings of the A340, like the A330, look long and narrow.  Almost flimsy looking  it gives both aircraft a look of grace.   Aside from the aesthetics, which no doubt have little to do with the final design, the long narrow wings have a high aspect ratio making them very efficient in giving lift and allowing a high maximum speed of Mach 0.86.  The high thickness to cord ratio of 12.8 percent means that the thickness of the wing at it’s thickest point at any place along it length is 12.8 percent of the distance from the front of the wing to the rear of the wing at any given point.  Compared to other aircraft this is quite high and allows for more strength to be built into the wing as well as more space for fuel.

The A340 500 and A340 600 were developed to be long range high capacity airliners.  Particularly the A340 500IGW (Increased Gross Weight) and the A340 600HGW(High Gross Weight) models.  Other than their longer fuselages, compared to the A340 200 and A340 300, they were also distinguishable by their four-wheeled under fuselage centre wheel bogie.  The A340 200 and A340 300 had a standard tricycle undercarriage with a 2 wheeled bogie under the nose, a 4 wheeled bogie under each wing and an additional 2 wheeled bogie under the fuselage almost in line with the main under-wing bogies.  The A340 500 and A340 600 sported the same centre under fuselage bogie but with 4 wheels instead of 2.  This was to support the significantly higher weights that these two aircraft were capable of lifting.

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Much of this weight, however, was of course, fuel

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Much of this weight, however, was of course, fuel for some of the extremely long routes these aircraft flew.  At the time of the doubling of fuel prices in 2008, the Chief Executive of Air France – KLM was reported to have described the A340 500 as a flying tanker with a few people on board.

Check our table of A340 specs below.

Airbus A340 Specifications Table

	Airbus A340 200	AIRBUS A340 300	AIRBUS A340 500	AIRBUS A340 600
Range (fully laden)	8,000nm (15,000Km)	7,400nm (13,700Km)	8,670nm (16,060) IGW: 9,000nm (17,000Km)	7,750nm (14,350Km)        HGW: 7,900nm (14,600Km)
Seating (Typical)	240 (3 class)        300 (2 class)	295 (3 class)        335 (2 class)	313 (3 class)        359 (2 class)	380 (3 class)        419 (2 class)
Competes against	Boeing 767-400ER	Boeing 777-200ER	Boeing 777-200LR	Boeing 777-300ER
Length	59.39 m (194 ft 10 in)	63.60 m (208 ft 8 in)	67.90 m (222 ft 9 in)	75.30 m (247 ft 1 in)
Wing span	60.30 m (197 ft 10 in)		63.45 m (208 ft 2 in)
Wing Area	361.6 sq m (3,892 sq ft)		439.4 sq m (4,730 sq ft)
Wing Sweep Back	30 Degrees		31.1 Degrees
Height (top of tail)	16.70 m (54 ft 9 in)	16.85 m (55 ft 3 in)	17.10 m (56 ft 1 in)	17.30 m (56 ft 9 in)
Fuselage Width (Exterior)	5.64 m (18 ft 6 in)
Cabin width (Interior)	5.28 m (17 ft 4 in)
Freight Volume	162.8 cu m (5,750 cu ft)	162.8 cu m (5,750 cu ft)	153.9 cu m (5,430 cu ft)	207.6 cu m (7,330 cu ft)
Undercarriage	12 wheels. Nose Bogey – 2 wheels, Main Under Wing Bogey 4 wheels x 2, Centre Under Fuselage Bogey 2 wheels		14 wheels. Nose Bogey – 2 wheels, Main Under  Wing Bogey 4 wheels x 2, Centre Under Fuselage Bogey 4 wheels
Wheel Track	10.69 m	10.69 m	10.69 m	10.69 m
Wheel Base	23.24 m	25.6 m	27.59 m	32.89 m
Freight (underfloor) LD3	32	32	30	42
Freight (underfloor) Pallets	11	11	10	14
Freight (underfloor) Bulk	19.72 cu m	19.7 cu m	19.7 cu m	19.7 cu m
Freight (underfloor) Total	162.8 cu m	162.8 cu m	153.9 cu m	207.6 cu m
Typical Operating Empty Weight	129,000 kg (284,000 lb)	130,200 kg (287,000 lb)	170,900 kg (376,800 lb) IGW: 174,800 kg(385,400 lb)	177,800 kg(392,000 lb) HGW: 181,900 kg(401,000 lb)
Cruising Speed	Mach 0.82 (871 kph / 470 kts at 11,000 m/36,000 ft)		Mach 0.83 (881 kph / 476 kts at 11,000 m/36,000 ft)
Maximum Operating Speed	Mach 0.86 (913 kph / 493 kts at 11,000 m/36,000 ft)
Maximum Ramp Weight	275,000 kg	275,900 kg	373,200 kg	369,200 kg
Maximum Take off Weight	275,000 kg (606,000 lb)	276,500 kg (609,600 lb)	372,000 kg (820,000 lb) IGW: 380,000 kg (840,000 lb)	368,000 kg (811,000 lb) HGW: 380,000 kg (840,000 lb)
Take off distance at Maximum Take off weight at sea-level ISA	2,990 m (9,810 ft)	3,100 m (10,200 ft)	3,050 m (10,010 ft)	3,100 m (10,200 ft)
Landing distance at  at sea-level ISA	1,890 m (6,200 ft)	1,916 m (6,319 ft)	2,094 m (6,870 ft)	2,063 m (6,768 ft)
Service Ceiling	12,500 m (41,000 ft)
Maximum Fuel Capacity	155,040 litres (34,100 imp gal; 40,960 US gal)	147,850 litres (32,520 imp gal; 39,060 US gal)	214,810 litres (47,250 imp gal; 56,750 US gal) IGW: 222,000 litres (49,000 imp gal; 59,000 US gal)	195,880 litres (43,090 imp gal; 51,750 US gal) HGW: 204,500 litres (45,000 imp gal; 54,000 US gal)
Engines	4 x CFM56-5C		4 x RR Trent 500
Flight Crew	2
Price per aircraft at time of production.	US$187.5 Million	US$238.0 million	US$261.8 million	US$275.4 million
	Airbus A340 200	AIRBUS A340 300	AIRBUS A340 500	AIRBUS A340 600

If there is more you want to learn about this airliner, please visit; Airbus A340 Home, Airbus A340 Assembly, Airbus A340 Order Book and Airbus A340 History.
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