Air France # Retires A340 Fleet
- Admin • CHR
- Oct 14, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 18, 2020
The Airbus A340-300 registered F-GLZK with the colors of Joon, an oldest brand of Air France, took off from Paris CDG in complete privacy on Monday, October 12, 2020 at 10:13 am local time to be ferried to Istanbul. The Covid crisis precipitated the end of the quadjet sector in the world.
Check below our "Farewell AF'A340 gallery" with pictures taken by Flickr photographers contributors around the world
History
Air France was the launch customer for the new Airbus A340 widebody airliner in 1993.
Since then the airline has continuously operated the type, through both the -200 and -300 variants.
With much of the Air France fleet grounded due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the familiar sight of an Air France Airbus A340 is now behind us, it seems time is up for the four-engine in the air. Considering the fuel-thirsty nature of these four engines, there is little market for sale in the used market, so they are almost certainly going to be scrapped.
With a length of 63.69 m (208 ft 11 in) and a wingspan 60.3 m (197 ft10 in), the Airbus A340-300 is capable of a cruising speed of 871 km/h & 537 mph at 11,000 m/36,000 ft. Its maximum range is 10,830 km/6,730 mn
This aircraft belongs to the Airbus A340 family. The company operates with four different seating arrangements. The regular layout has 30 seats in Business Class, 21 in the Premium Economy Class and 224 in Economy Class and operates regular, international destinations.
With this long-haul aircraft, introduced in 2001, Air France revolutionized air travel in Tempo cabin ( Economy class ) by giving passengers an unrivaled level of comfort thanks to new ergonomic seating with individual in-seat video, large screens as well as hi-fi stereo headphones for music and videos
Business (Première) class passengers have noise-reducing headsets, a 10.4” interactive video screen featuring a selection of films and news broadcasts, a power outlet and individual telephone. The lie flat seats have a massage function and optical fibre reading lamp. Seats recline up to 131º. There are individual screens for Economy class passengers.
Air France A340 Fleet
Over the years Air France has operated 30 Airbus A340s, comprising 6 A340-200s and 21 A340-300s. They were:
F-GLZA - A340-300 : 17 Aug 1993 - 14 Mar 2007 > EC-KCL Iberia
F-GLZB - A340-300 : 26 Feb 1993 - 7 Jun 2005 > EC-JIS Air Madrid
F-GLZC - A340-300 : 30 Sep 1993 - Oct 2015 > Scrapped
F-GLZD - A340-200 : 11 Oct 1993 - 10 Nov 1998 > F-OITN Air Tahiti Nui
F-GLZE - A340-200 : 21 Feb 1994 - 5 Mar 1999 > F-GLZE AOM French Airlines
F-GZLF - A340-200 : 18 Mar 1994 - 18 Feb 1999 > F-GLZF AOM French Airlines
F-GLZG - A340-300 : 8 Apr 1994 - 9 Dec 2009 > PZ-TCP Surinam Airways
F-GLZH - A340-300 : 18 Jul 1995 - 30 Oct 2016 > Scrapped
F-GLZI - A340-300 : 7 Aug 1995 - 8 Oct 2017 > Scrapped
F-GLZJ - A340-300 : 16 Sep 1997 - 1 Jul 2019 > Scrapped
F-GLZK - A340-300 : 26 Jun 2019 - 23 Mar 2020 > Stored with JOON Livery
F-GLZL - A340-300 : 20 Feb 1998 - 11 Apr 2012 > F-GLZL Air Madagascar
F-GLZM - A340-300 : 23 Oct 1998 - 24 Mar 2016 > Scrapped
F-GZLN - A340-300 : 26 Jun 2019 - 19 Mar 2020 > Stored
F-GLZO - A340-300 : 26 Jun 2019 - 24 Feb 2020 > Stored with JOON Livery
F-GLZP - A340-300 : 26 Jun 2019 - 23 Mar 2020 > Stored
F-GLZQ - A340-300 : 7 Sep 1999 - 2 Aug 2005 > Written Off at YYZ
F-GLZR - A340-300 : 10 Nov 1999 - 30 Oct 2017 > Scrapped
F-GLZS - A340-300 : 23 Dec 1999 - 21 May 2018 > Scrapped
F-GLZT - A340-300 : 28 Feb 2000 - 29 Jun 2012 > 5R-EAA Air Madagascar
F-GLZU - A340-300 : 15 Dec 2000 - 31 Dec 2018 > Scrapped
F-GNIA - A340-200 : 13 May 1993 - 20 Jan 1994 > Written Off at CDG
F-GNIB - A340-200 : 9 Jun 1993 - 28 Mar 1996 > F-GNIB Lufthansa
F-GNIC - A340-200 : 25 Jun 1993 - 30 Mar 1996 > OO-SCX Sabena
F-GNID - A340-300 : 8 Mar 1994 - 24 Mar 1997 > OO-SCY Sabena
F-GNIE - A340-300 : 27 Apr 1994 - 15 Apr 1997 > OO-SCZ Sabena
F-GNIF - A340-300 : 17 Apr 1997 - 9 Dec 2010 > OH-LQF Finnair
F-GNIG - A340-300 : 28 May 1997 - 25 Nov 2010 > OH-LQG Finnair
F-GNIH - A340-300 : 4 Dec 2000 - 22 Dec 2011 > LV-CSX Aerolineas Argentinas
F-GNII - A340-300 : 6 Apr 2001 - 26 Feb 2017 > EC-MQM Plus Ultra
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