Virgin Atlantic (launch customer) began
commercial services in August, 2002.
The A340-600 in 2009 can be found in the fleet of:
Lufthansa (24) ,
IBERIA (13), Virgin Atlantic,
Thai (6), ...
By august 2007 the Airbus website mentioned 77 deliverd A340-600 and
total orders of 108, which is less than a year earlier (some airlines
must have cancelled heir order), while Boeing was taking in plenty of
orders for the 777-300ER.
In december 2006 the Airbus A340-600 suddenly got 7 additional orders
from Lufthansa. Nico Buchholz, Senior Vice President Corporate Fleet,
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said: "The aircraft play an active role in
Lufthansa's ecological contribution to lower fuel consumption and
reduced noise emissions".
By december 2006 some 69 A340-600 had been delivered.
By october 2006 total orders stood at 114, with 65 deliverd. Again it seems orders have been cancelled.
By september 2006 already 60 A340-600 had been deliverd, but total
orders stood at 116. It seems that after november 2005, some A340-600
orders have been cancelled.
By january 2006 the total amount of orders had reached 116, but orders
had stalled in 2005. The direct Boeing equivalent is the 777-300ER,
which was first delivered in 2004, sold much better as it's lighter,
uses less fuel and has only 2 engines.
By november 2005 some 48 A340-600 had been delivered to: Virgin
Atlantic, Lufthansa, South African, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, China
Eastern airlines,
Thai (6), .... with 76 more aircraft on order.
The initial seven A340-600
aircraft were delivered with overweight wings. Virgin Atlantic elected
to receive replacement aircraft. The initial airframes were delivered
at a reduced price to Iberia Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
The A340-600 has
the same power as the engines of the
A340-500. It also has an additional four-wheel undercarriage on the fuselage centre-line to cope with the increase of the weight.
It's more than 10 m longer than a basic
A340-300, making
it with 75,3 m more than four metres longer than a Boeing 747-400. more than 10 m longer than a basic
A340-300, making
it with 75,3 m more than four metres longer than a Boeing 747-400.
