In late March through April, wet lease specialist HiFly Malta deployed the A340-300 between Mauritius and London Gatwick on behalf of Air Mauritius, which temporarily replaced its usual A350-900s and A330-900s.
According to Flightradar24, the 5,253 nautical miles (9,728 km) link saw the 26.5-year-old 9H-TQZ – ex-Singapore Airlines and Emirates – on 13 occasions. As it was the UK’s only A340 operation, the country again has no flights by the increasingly uncommon type.
While the A340 is justifiably renowned for being a gas-guzzler and contributing to higher direct operating costs, its unpopularity and older technology mean it has very low lease rates compared to newer, more efficient equipment. The balance between these factors, and much more, is always intriguing.
Longest A340 routes: May-September
Now that Air Mauritius is no longer deploying HiFly’s equipment, it is worth examining the world’s longest non-stop A340 services, regardless of the variant and location in the world.
The data was collected on May 1 using Cirium and OAG and is subject to change. The distance is, as always, based on the great circle; the real-world distance will vary, especially given how similar some airport pairs are. Comments and frequencies relate only to the A340.
| Nautical miles (km) | Routing | Airline | Comments about May-September A340 service |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,357 (9,921) | Caracas-Moscow Vnukovo | Conviasa | A340-600, weekly. This link provides interesting background info on this service |
| 5,154 (9,546) | Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro Galeão | Lufthansa | A340-300, five weekly |
| 5,105 (9,455) | Liberia-Zurich | Edelweiss | A340-300, weekly to twice-weekly. Operates triangularly: Zurich-San Jose-Liberia-Zurich |
| 5,078 (9,404) | Zurich-San Jose (Costa Rica) | Edelweiss | A340-300, two to three weekly. Some flights continue to Liberia en route back to Switzerland |
| 5,055 (9,362) | Frankfurt-San Jose (Costa Rica) | Lufthansa | A340-300, three times weekly |
| 5,053 (9,358) | Frankfurt-Cape Town | Lufthansa | A340-300, three to five weekly |
| 5,045 (9,344) | Frankfurt-Los Angeles | Lufthansa | A340-300, three to fly weekly (plus other equipment) |
| 5,039 (9,333) | Zurich-Phuket | Edelweiss | A340-300, only on May 5, 7, 12, and 19 from Switzerland. The route returns at the end of October for winter |
| 5,019 (9,296) | Zurich-Hong Kong | SWISS | The A340-300 is due to return on September 1, replacing the 777-300ER. There will be a lot less freight capacity |
| 4,965 (9,194) | Zurich-Las Vegas | Edelweiss | A340-300, twice to three times weekly |
Lufthansa: Los Angeles
While this airport pair ‘only’ ranks seventh globally, it is nonetheless the longest scheduled non-stop A340 route to touch the US in the examined period.
Lufthansa serves Frankfurt-Los Angeles 10 to 12 times weekly this summer. The 279-seat lower-premium A340-300 runs three to five weekly. It coexists with the first-class-equipped, higher-premium, 364-seat 747-8, which is daily.
The A340 is on LH450, which departs from Frankfurt at 13:50 and arrives in California at 16:55 local (12h 5m block time). Not surprisingly, the lower-capacity quadjet is on Lufthansa’s second-largest bank of US-bound flights rather than the busiest. LH451 then leaves at 18:40 and gets home at 14:50+1 (11h 10m), the smallest bank of flights arriving from the US.
The arrival time in Frankfurt helps Lufthansa to capture passengers bound for Yerevan, which booking data shows is the Star Alliance member’s largest connecting market from Los Angeles. However, there’s still a pretty long wait, which is less of a problem than it might otherwise be given only a few other alternative options for reaching the Armenian capital.
