Airbus A340-311

The Airbus A340‑311, a member of the A340 family, entered service in the early 1990s as a long‑range, four‑engine, wide‑body jet produced by Airbus SAS. Its first flight took place on 25 April 1991 and the aircraft received certification later that year, with commercial deliveries beginning in 1992. Designed to compete with Boeing's 767 and 777 series, the A340‑311 offered a typical two‑class seating capacity of 250‑280 passengers and a maximum range of about 13,500 km (7,300 nmi), enabling nonstop routes between Europe, Asia, and North America. Key features include four high‑bypass CFM56‑5C turbofan engines, a reinforced composite wing‑tip extension, and advanced avionics such as fly‑by‑wire control and a digital cockpit. The aircraft’s quadruple‑engine layout provided extra redundancy on trans‑oceanic flights, a valuable attribute before the proliferation of ETOPS‑180 approvals for twin‑engine jets. Throughout its production run, more than 200 A340‑311s were built, serving airlines such as Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and Air France. Although later superseded by more fuel‑efficient twins, the A340‑311 remains a milestone in Airbus’s expansion into ultra‑long‑haul markets and demonstrated the viability of European heavy‑jet manufacturing on a global scale.