Long Haul flights

[Douglas Dakota]

SQ A340-500 was configured with all-business-class 100 seats.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Douglas Dakota

SQ A340-500 was configured with all-business-class 100 seats.

The A340-500 was introduced as the world's longest-range commercial airliner. It first flew on 11 February 2002, and was certified on 3 December 2002. The A340-500 can fly 313 passengers in a three-class cabin layout over 16,000 km.

Singapore Airlines used this model (initially in a two-class, 181-passenger layout, later in a 100-passenger business-only layout) for its Newark–Singapore nonstop route, SQ 21: an 18-hour, 45-minute "westbound" 15,344 kilometres (8,285 nmi) journey that was the longest scheduled non-stop commercial flight in the world,this flight route ceased operation in 2013. The Singapore Airlines -500 is the first aircraft to include a corpse cupboard, used for storing the body of a passenger who dies during a flight.

The jet must be considered a failure as only 34 were delivered and as of April 2016, the ones that are still active are almost all VIP or head of state aircraft . The remaining active jets are between 5.9 and 13.4 years of age.

c/n Aircraft Type Reg Airline Delivered Status Prev. Reg
495 Airbus A340-541 A7-HHH Qatar Amiri Flight 15. Sep 2003 Active F-WWTQ
560 Airbus A340-541 VP-BMS Las Vegas Sands Corporation 05. Jul 2014 Active F-WJKM
698 Airbus A340-541 60204 Royal Thai Air Force Sep 2016 Active HS-TLC
748 Airbus A340-541 I-TALY Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) Jul 2016 Active A6-EHA
757 Airbus A340-541 A6-EHB Etihad Airways 13. Jul 2006 Active F-WWTU
761 Airbus A340-541 A6-EHC Etihad Airways 15. Sep 2006 Active F-WWTV
783 Airbus A340-541 A6-EHD Etihad Airways 21. Dec 2006 Active F-WWTY
886 Airbus A340-542 4K-AZ85 AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines 24. Dec 2012 Active F-WWTG
894 Airbus A340-542 4K-AZ86 AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines 22. Dec 2012 Active F-WWTH
912 Airbus A340-542 CS-TFX Hi Fly 08. Jun 2015 (29. Apr 2009) Active F-WJKI
917 Airbus A340-541 7T-VPP Government of Algeria 10. Jun 2008 Active F-WWTM
1091 Airbus A340-541 9K-GBA State of Kuwait 17. Apr 2013 Active F-WJKH
1102 Airbus A340-541 9K-GBB State of Kuwait 09. Nov 2013 Active F-WJKI

[NW4me]

...but an aesthetic pleasure.... A340 is the best-looking four-engine plane flying, IMHO, along with early-model 747s.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by NW4me

...but an aesthetic pleasure.... A340 is the best-looking four-engine plane flying, IMHO, along with early-model 747s.

I was specifically referring to the long range -500 model. The -600 model was actually flown first by a about a year.
First flight of the A340-600 was made on 23 April 2001
First flight of the A340-500 was made on 11 April 2002

I call the -500 a failure since some jets were only flown for 5 years before they were stored. But failure may be too strong a word for a jet that is pushing the performance boundaries.

Production numbers
28 A340-200
218 A340-300
34 A340-500
97 A340-600
377 Total

[Douglas Dakota]

Economically it was a failure, but technically it was awesome. Just that the fuel burn on ultra long-haul with 4 engines is just too high and the market for those airplanes is very limited. Everything shorter than 6-8k miles can be flown with twin engine.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Douglas Dakota

Everything shorter than 6-8k miles can be flown with twin engine.

The two longest commercial routes in the world use twin engine B77-200LR (New Delhi -> San Francisco 9,409 miles w/ 238 seats) and (Auckland <->Dubai 8,825 miles w/ 266 seats)

They are powered with the largest GE90 design variants (-110B and -115B) built exclusively for Boeing’s largest 777 models.
GE90 Commercial Aircraft Engine | Boeing 777 | GE Aviation


So it is more accurate to say anything can be flown with a twin engine, but if you want to carry a lot of seats for those distances you need more engines (currently).
Dallas/Fort Worth - Sydney via Qantas (8,578 miles) with 484 seats on A380-800.

[Return2FL]

Originally Posted by Douglas Dakota

Those routes are far too long to be a pleasure in Coach. I did SIN-EWR years ago with SQ A340-500 all business class, it has been around 18 hours and beside the fact that I was getting bored and annoyed, the flight was very decent and nice. But imagine sitting 18 hours in a 9-abreast 787 with the guy in front putting his seat back and the children in the back kicking against your seat while you try to survive - I would not do that. Just have a nice Stopover in Singapore, Hongkong or elsewhere with some good food and a good hotel and then continue on the next day.

I have flown on KE F in the A380 from ICN to LAX and it was wonderful. I would go round the world for 3 days in the front of that airplane.

I've done EWR - NRT more times than I'd like remember in coach. There's a quirk in the seating on United's 777's in row 41. Due to the curvature of the fuselage, the row 41 seats are at an angle and the window seats on each side have lots of legroom. It might be the only reason I'm still alive.

[motormaker]

Air India sets distance record in shortest time.

Air India sets record with world's longest non-stop flight in shortest time