• rsz_airbus_50th_years_anniversary_formation_flight_-_air_to_air
    Airbus
    Stock Code:
    AIR
    Date Founded:
    1970-12-18
    CEO:
    Guillaume Faury
    Headquarters Location:
    Toulouse, France
    Key Product Lines:
    Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380
    Business Type:
    Planemaker

Syrian Air has a small but diverse fleet, with its aircraft coming from Airbus, Ilyushin, and Tupolev. The former of these manufacturers is the dominant force, with ch-aviation.com showing that the European manufacturer's jets account for nine of the carrier's 14 aircraft. Among these are two A340s, but where do they fly?

Syrian Air's A340 fleet in a nutshell

Let's start by establishing the nature of the Airbus A340-300s that fly for Syrian Air. The pair are the carrier's youngest aircraft, clocking in at an (admittedly rather senior) average age of 22.5 years old. The first to join the airline was YK-AZA, which came onboard in February 2017 having previously flown for Cathay Pacific, Sri Lankan Airlines, Bek Air, and Air Inter 1. It has 276 economy and 24 business seats.

Meanwhile, despite being older (23.21 vs 21.76 years old), YK-AZB was a much more recent arrival. Indeed, the ex-Olympic Airlines quadjet joined Syrian Air at a rather unfortunate time, namely March 2020, when the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on commercial aviation were becoming clear. This aircraft has a more premium-heavy configuration, with 32 business class seats and 263 in economy.

At present, ch-aviation's data lists just one of Syrian Air's Airbus A340s, namely YK-AZA, as being active. Meanwhile, YK-AZB is undergoing maintenance in Tehran, with RadarBox.com showing that it arrived there in May 2022.

Syrian Air Airbus A340
Syrian Air's A340s have slightly different seating configurations. Photo: Dmitry Terekhov via Flickr

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YK-AZA

In terms of usage analysis, we'll start by taking a look at the more recently active YK-AZA. Aside from the aircraft's Damascus base, the destination that it has served the most in the last 12 months, according to data generated two weeks ago by RadarBox, is the UAE hub of Dubai International Airport (194 visits).

As it happens, another UAE airport, namely Sharjah, is second on the list, with YK-AZA having flown there 159 times in the past year. However, when it comes to completing the podium, Qatar gets in on the act, with Doha Hamad International having handled YK-AZA 77 times in the past 12 months.

Moving onto YK-AZA's fourth most-visited airport in the last year, the UAE rejoins the party in the form of Abu Dhabi International (54 visits). After this, the numbers drop significantly, with fifth-placed Cairo having only seen 18 visits. Moving into single figures, YK-AZA also served Khartoum right times and Moscow Vnukovo twice.

Syrian Air Airbus A340
Syrian Air's A340s frequently visit the UAE. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Flickr

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YK-AZB

While YK-AZB hasn't been active since May, it has still managed to rack up hundreds of flights during the last year as a whole. Much like its classmate YK-AZA, this aircraft's most-visited destination is also Dubai, with an impressive 233 flights there in the past 12 months. Once again, Sharjah is second, with 122 visits.

Where YK-AZB differs from YK-AZA is the fact that its top three most visited airports are all in the UAE, with Abu Dhabi's 35 visits enough to see it rank third. Doha sits fourth, with its 16 visits from YK-AZB in the last year being considerably lower than the 77 times that YK-AZA has flown there. Rounding out the top five we have Cairo, with YK-AZB having served the Egyptian capital 12 times in the last year.

What do you make of how Syrian Air uses its Airbus A340-300s? Have you ever flown on one yourself? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!