Airbus A340-600
00:00 Virgin Atlantic A346 - Glasgow Airport, Scotland - July 2012 00:56 Etihad A346 - Edinburgh Airport, Scotland - July 2016 01:34 Lufthansa A346 - Glasgow Airport, Scotland - Sept 2026 The Airbus A340-600 was designed to replace early-generation Boeing 747-200/300 airliners, the A340-600 can carry 379 passengers in a three-class cabin layout for 13,900 km (7,500 nmi; 8,600 mi). It provides a passenger capacity similar to a 747 but with 25 per cent more cargo volume and lower trip and seat costs. The first flight of the A340-600 was made on 23 April 2001. Virgin Atlantic began commercial services in August 2002. The A340-600 is 12 m (39 ft 4.4 in) longer than a −300, more than 4 m (13 ft 1.5 in) longer than the Boeing 747-400 and 2.3 m (7 ft 6.6 in) longer than the A380, and has two emergency exit doors added over the wings. It held the record for the world's longest commercial aircraft until the first flight of the Boeing 747-8 in February 2010. The A340-600 is powered by four 250 kN (56,000 lbf) thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 556 turbofans and uses the Honeywell 331–600[A] APU. As with the −500, it has a four-wheel undercarriage bogie on the fuselage centre-line to cope with the increased MTOW along with the enlarged wing and rear empennage. Upper deck main cabin space can be optionally increased by locating facilities such as crew rest areas, galleys, and lavatories upon the aircraft's lower deck. In early 2007, Airbus reportedly advised carriers to reduce cargo in the forward section by 5.0 t (11,000 lb) to compensate for overweight first and business-class sections; the additional weight caused the aircraft's centre of gravity to move forward, thus reducing cruise efficiency. Affected airlines considered filing compensation claims with Airbus. The variant's main competitor is the 777-300ER. The A340-600 was replaced by the A350-1000. As of March 2024, there were 33 A340-600s in service with nine airlines worldwide