{"id":57894,"date":"2024-11-27T21:28:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T20:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=57894"},"modified":"2025-12-04T03:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:49:10","slug":"the-history-of-iberias-airbus-a340s-and-the-reasons-why-they-stopped-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/11\/27\/the-history-of-iberias-airbus-a340s-and-the-reasons-why-they-stopped-flying\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of Iberia's Airbus A340s and the reasons why they stopped flying"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1990s, the European aeronautical company Airbus created an aircraft that promised to be a milestone in its history: the four-engine A340.<\/p>\n

The presentation in Spain of the first Airbus A321XLR airliner, operated by Iberia<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe history of Iberia's Boeing 747, the largest aircraft of a Spanish operator<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

The A340 was Airbus's first four-engine aircraft,<\/strong> an aircraft that aspired to compete with the famous Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet on long-distance flights with large numbers of passengers. The A340 is an excellent aircraft that broke several world records<\/strong>. It made its first flight on 25 October 1991 and entered service in March 1993. That same year it achieved two world records in a single non-stop flight between Le Bourget (France) and Auckland (New Zealand)<\/strong>, a distance of 19,100 kilometres in a time of 21 hours and 31 minutes.<\/p>\n

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Iberia's Airbus A340-313 EC-GUQ, named after Beatriz Galindo Iberia (Photo: U-95<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The Spanish airline Iberia operated 39 A340s<\/a>, in two versions: 23 A340-300s (20 of them purchased from Airbus and 3 second-hand) and 18 A340-600s. The first A340-300s arrived at Iberia in 1996 and were in service until 2016<\/strong>, a period of only ten years. These aircraft were named after famous women from Spanish history. The first A340-600s arrived at the Spanish airline in 2003, with the last ones remaining in service until 2020.<\/strong> Aircraft of this variant were named after famous musicians, poets and painters.<\/p>\n

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The interior of the Iberia Airbus A340-313X EC-HQN (Photo: Fran Jurado<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Airbus officially ceased production of the A340 in 2011<\/a>, after several years without new orders, although in reality the last A340s came off the assembly line in 2009 (the last two were delivered to Iberia). 380 units were built, a very small number compared to the 1,572 Boeing 747s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Iberia's Airbus A340-642 EC-JLE, named after Santiago Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (Photo: Carlos Delgado<\/a>).<\/div>\n

The A340 was a victim of global circumstances,<\/strong> specifically the airline crisis caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and, above all, the 2020 pandemic. In addition, the change in<\/strong> ICAO ETOPS standards,<\/a> allowing longer flights with twin-engine aircraft, and the greater efficiency of aeroengine powertrains, was a cocktail that condemned four-engine aircraft like the A340 to an early decline,<\/strong> which has also ended up affecting giants such as the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380.<\/p>\n

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One of Iberia's Airbus A340-600s, with the airline's current livery (Photo: Iberia<\/a>).<\/div>\n

About these four-engine aircraft, today the channel Fly By Wire Aviation<\/a> (to which I recommend you subscribe if you like topics related to civil and military aviation) has published an interesting video reviewing the history of Iberia's Airbus A340-300<\/strong> (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n