Lufthansa has a long history with the A340-300. Its first example was delivered nearly 29 years ago in November 1993, although it has, not surprisingly, been scrapped. Lufthansa now has 17 A340-300s, of which 16 are active, according to Flightradar24. However, now that Germany's flag carrier has received its first of 32 B787-9s, the writing is on the wall for the elderly and far less fuel-efficient quadjets, which the B787-9 will replace.
Lufthansa's oldest type
The average age of Lufthansa's A340-300s is 22.9 years, according to ch-aviation.com. It is the airline's oldest type, although the B747-400 (22.4 years) is close behind, likewise the A319 (20 years).
Lufthansa has 17 A340-300s, meaning the type is its third most common widebody, behind the A350-900 (with 21) and B747-8 (19). It has 16 operational A340-300s, while one (D-AIFF) is undergoing maintenance in Manila following storage in Teruel.
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Its 17 A340-300s
Here is a breakdown of Lufthansa's 17-strong subfleet, the oldest of which, at 26.4 years, is D-AIGL. From analyzing Flightradar24 information, some 14 aircraft are flying on August 31st, the day of writing.
- D-AIFC: delivered in January 2001
- D-AIFD: March 2001
- D-AIFE: October 2001
- D-AIFF: December 2001; left Frankfurt for Manila on August 13th
- D-AIGL: May 1996
- D-AIGM: January 1997
- D-AIGN: March 1998
- D-AIGO: August 1998
- D-AIGP: December 1998
- D-AIGS: October 1999
- D-AIGT: December 1999
- D-AIGU: February 2000
- D-AIGV: February 2000
- D-AIGW: March 2000
- D-AIGX: September 2000
- D-AIGY: June 2000
- D-AIGZ: June 2000
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Lufthansa's A340-300 network
Lufthansa exclusively uses the A340-300 from its Frankfurt hub. Looking ahead from September to December, OAG shows some 28 routes will see the type. There's quite a bit of change at the end of October when Lufthansa, like other airlines, switches from summer to winter schedules. Notice the one-off roundtrip to Washington Dulles on October 17th, operating LH416/LH417.
- Frankfurt to Denver: 1x daily A340-300 flights September-December
- Frankfurt to Tehran: 5x weekly (later rising to 6x weekly and 1x daily)
- Frankfurt to Bogotá: 5x weekly (later 1x daily)
- Frankfurt to Hong Kong: 5x weekly (later 1x daily)
- Frankfurt to Philadelphia: 4x weekly (later 5x weekly)
- Frankfurt to Cape Town: 5x weekly (later 3x weekly)
- Frankfurt to Dallas: 5x weekly (later falling to as low as 2x weekly)
- Frankfurt to Mumbai: A340 stops after August, then 1x daily from October 29th
- Frankfurt to Orlando: 1x daily from October 29th
- Frankfurt to Delhi: 1x daily from October 30th
- Frankfurt to Vancouver: 1x daily from October 30th
- Frankfurt to Toronto: 1x daily from October 30th
- Frankfurt to Singapore: 1x daily until October 29th
- Frankfurt to Chicago: 1x daily until October 29th
- Frankfurt to Detroit: 2x weekly (later up to 5x weekly)
- Frankfurt to Seattle: 6x weekly from October 30th
- Frankfurt to San Jose (Costa Rica): 3x weekly
- Frankfurt to Chennai: 3x weekly
- Frankfurt to Los Angeles: 6x weekly until October 28th
- Frankfurt to JFK: normally 4x to 5x weekly until October 29th
- Frankfurt to Montréal: up to 1x daily until October 6th
- Frankfurt to Boston: 5x weekly (later just 1x weekly)
- Frankfurt to Newark: 3x weekly from October 30th
- Frankfurt to Seoul: 3x weekly until October 27th
- Frankfurt to Nanjing: 1x weekly
- Frankfurt to Doha: 3x weekly November 25th-December 16th (World Cup)
- Frankfurt to Atlanta: 3x weekly from December 15th
- Frankfurt to Washington Dulles: 1x roundtrip on October 17th
What was the latest A340-300 you were on? Let us know in the comments.