Aircraft dying of old age?!

[convair]

Skyline mentions that Lufthansa is sending "for part-out and scrap" a 17 years old A340-300! The current low cost of fuel couldn't save it obviously.
Amazing as some airlines use 30 years old A310s e.g. on a regular basis.

[jan_olieslagers]

That's a matter of economics and nothing else. There seems to be very very little demand for A340's.

[Omychron]

There's just no demand for A340's.
As an example, take Lourdes airport. Probably about 30 A340's lined up next to the runway, not being used.
There are probably plenty of airports like that!

[Stij]

The reason is that the development of the A340 started in 1982, when ETOPS was not there yet (1985) and most intercontinental routes required at least 3 engines.
Over the years ETOPS grew from 120min to even 370min for the A350 and demand for 3 or 4 engine aircraft diminished. Up to the point where we are today that virtually every route can be done by a recent twin and therefore there's no economical reason of existence anymore for a single deck 4 engined aircraft..

I imagine a lot of these A340 will be dismantled gently as a lot of parts are identical to A330's which remain very popular.

Cheers,

Stij

[DeltaWiskey]

Airbus has delivered 100+ A330 each year for the past 4 years, I guess that's says enough, doesn't it?

[quixoticguide]

The A340 is an endangered species.