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Shortest Airbus A340 flights revealed amid declining quadjet operations

Shortest Airbus A340 flights revealed amid declining quadjet operations
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Airbus A340 | Wikipedia

Quadjet aircraft are becoming increasingly rare, with data showing they will operate just 4.4% of all widebody services in June 2025. This is a decrease from 4.6% in the same month last year and from 7.8% before the pandemic in June 2019.

The Airbus A340, known for its low lease or acquisition costs but high fuel burn and maintenance requirements compared to newer twinjets, remains part of this dwindling group. Despite Edelweiss launching one of the world's longest A340 services, attention has turned to the shortest routes operated by this aircraft type.

In June, several short-haul flights are scheduled on the A340, many involving stops and lacking standalone booking options. Some services are part of broader operations that include domestic routes within a country by foreign carriers without cabotage rights. Four flights involve Afghanistan's Kam Air and Iran's Mahan Air, while three feature Lufthansa, including the Almaty-Nur Sultan route.

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The shortest scheduled A340 service is San José-Liberia within Costa Rica, operated by Edelweiss on flight WK38. This route does not have traffic rights on the domestic leg and mainly runs as a triangular service twice weekly at the end of June.

Other notable short routes include Kabul-Mazar-e-Sharif by Kam Air and Riyadh-Dammam by Lufthansa. Both have no traffic rights on their respective domestic legs.

Edelweiss operates five A340-300s with a seating configuration that includes business class located away from the front of the aircraft. These planes average 21.7 years old and were inherited from SWISS. The airline plans to replace them with more efficient A350-500s eventually.

In Switzerland, there are typically some widebody flights between Zurich and Geneva using various Airbus models; however, only the A330-300 is scheduled for operation in 2025.

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