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A short while ago, we told the story of the Boeing 757, pound-for-pound the most overpowered twin-jet passenger airliner of the jet age of aviation. It was and still is the kind of jet that can legitimately impress fighter jets with its climb-to-altitude capabilities thanks to two colossal engines. If all that's true, think of the Airbus A340 as the complete opposite. Despite sporting four engines instead of two, the A340 is notorious worldwide for being an absolute pig. For better or worse, the A340 is like a Geo Metro in the sky. //
In time, Airbus's two factions advocating for either a twin or quad-jet arrangement for its new airframe conceded four engines were more marketable internationally than two. The only question remaining was what on Earth would power the new jet. Therein lay the future A340's true weakness, its engines.
The engine in question was the Franco-American CFM International CFM56 high-bypass turbofan engine. With well north of 30,000 examples produced since 1974, the CFM56 is one of the most prolific engines of the jet age. Everything from the DC-8 to multiple Boeing 737 iterations and all of the associated military variants therein have made use of the CFM 56 over the last 50 years. //
The last of the 377 A340s delivered to airline customers was completed in 2012. With the completion of Airbus' A380 jumbo jet program in 2021, it's doubtful whether Airbus will ever again field another wide-body, quad-jet airliner again. With the industry shifting ever more towards more efficient twin-jets, the A340 will forever remain a curious footnote in aviation history. https://www.airbus.com/en/who-we-are/our-history/commercial-aircraft-history/previous-generation-aircraft/a340-family //
it's yet to see a fatal accident in three decades of commercial service.