Lufthansa will fly its last passenger Airbus A340-600 service on October 18, 2026, ending 23 years of the four-engine jet at the airline. Here's why I'll miss it.
Gonna miss those downstairs lavatories... and the forever long takeoff rolls.
My only F experience so far was on board this plane (MUC-MEX). Farewell A340-600 :'(
Awesome Plane
Oddly, I've been on the 340-600 only four times, ever: three times on VS and once on SA, and that's it. 340-300s zillions of times, all on LH and LX.
I'll miss seeing them around and knowing that they're in one of my hometown airports (IAD), as they are really quite beautiful. Sad they'll be gone from mainstream/mainline flying.
Syd, if you're reading this, you may owe me a crude, mocking musical quote right about now, however I do sense that you're classier than I... 🙂
While I've never flown a European carrier (let alone Lufthansa), my one regret as an avgeek and Cathay-geek is that I only flew their A340-600 once. At the time, it operated one of the top three longest flights in the world, flying between New York and Hong Kong. I took every chance I had with their A340-300.
It's going to be a sad moment when the 744s and 748s start being retied.
Auf weidersehen, A346!
I'm curious Ben, why do you hate FRA? For example, is it worse than MCO, say, or LHR?
"It’ll be a sad day when Lufthansa has no more four engine planes in service."
Ouch. That hurt.
Do any other planes have the downstairs lav?
I don't think conviasa is using theirs. The only international flights on their website right now are very short distance
Last month, I took one last flight on Lufthansa’s A340-600 for the fun of it. I agree it will be truly missed. I thought the downstairs lavatories were fun as well
I think what makes this sad is that essentially all adults who are alive today grew up in an era of continuous innovation in the aviation industry. There were always projects to launch a new planes and excitement to see how different airlines would configure those planes.
In recent times, though, that innovation has seemingly dried up. The 777X, which was supposed to launch a decade ago, is the last big plane launch to look forward towards. The competitors have consolidated, and there are no known projects in the pipeline. Most current planes will simply be periodically refreshed to save 5% on fuel costs while most airlines have started converging on very similar layouts. The biggest, most interesting planes in the sky are all living on borrowed time, to be replaced by smaller, less interesting planes.
No era lasts forever, but for the time being, the commercial aerospace industry is a much less interesting place then it was 20 years ago.
I've only flown on an A346 a couple of times. ORD-AUH-ORD on Etihad about 15-16 years ago. To be honest, it felt like flying on an A330...LOL! I guess it should as the cabin width, etc. are the same.
While probably not in our lifetimes, a BWB would be really cool to fly in.
I really hate to see these aircraft retired. My late wife and I flew them in economy many times between CLT and MUC. I loved the downstairs lavatories. The 2-4-2 seating was a plus too.
If only AA would pick them up to fortify their puny wide-body fleet. .... But that won't happen. AA wouldn't even keep their 330s. Sigh. Goodbye LH 340-600s.
The 4 engine era is one step closer to existing only in history. However, he 2-4-2 seating lives on in the A330 series. A million times better that the 787 or 777 if you are stuck having to fly economy.
Ben,
that aircraft had been around LONGER
than 23 years, because in the early Nineties LH flew it FRA-BOS-FRA on two days of the week. Regards from/van
De Vliegende Hollander
For a while, it was a regular visitor to DEN from FRA. It was a very long aircraft. I would make the long trek from the J cabin all the way to downstairs Y restrooms at the end of the economy cabin.
One super unique cabin layout is lost with this retirement. Will be missed.
Indeed an end of an era. I flew the A340 many times across the pond and it was always a pleasant experience. There was a quirk with the AC that the first rows of the back economy cabin was always cold. Learned to avoid those. I will miss the downstairs lavatories. I one time chatted with a fight attendant who preferred to be stationed down there since it was the least amount of work 😉
The pre-Spohr video shows Lufthansa’s former greatness. I once had a couple from Egypt sitting next to me who proudly stated that they only fly Lufthansa since they were the best.
The Iranians should be happy. 4 more "new" planes!
We're getting closer to the time that all airliners will be only 2 engines, no 3-4 engine jets.
Flew it last week in J...FRA-IAD!
Goodbye, and thank you, for the last major long-haul leg I flew before the pandemic hit. FRA-DTW in F, still my top-rated F experience.
Was lucky enough to fly it a couple of times out of MUC, and it was truly a treat!
Sad to see such a distinctive aircraft go, although its four engine design is alone enough reason to replace it.