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Lufthansa remains sole Airbus A340 operator at New York-JFK

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Lufthansa remains sole Airbus A340 operator at New York-JFK
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Lufthansa Airbus A340 | Official Website

Over recent years, airlines have reassessed their fleets due to the downturn in international travel caused by the pandemic. This has led to some carriers retiring specific aircraft types, including the Airbus A340. The quad-engine jet was often criticized for its low power and sold poorly. However, some major international carriers utilized A340s on routes to busy airports like New York's JFK.

Currently, Lufthansa is the only airline operating A340 flights from New York-JFK. Since September 2024, when Air Senegal ceased its A340 operations at JFK, Lufthansa has been flying either the A340-300 or A340-600 from Frankfurt Airport to New York-JFK. Between October 2024 and June 2026, Lufthansa's schedule will vary between five weekly flights and daily connections with the A340.

Before the pandemic halted most international travel in January 2020, six routes from JFK were operated by A340s from airlines such as Iberia, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. In total, these operators scheduled 26 weekly departures with the A340 from JFK.

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After pandemic restrictions eased in 2021, only Lufthansa returned to JFK with an A340 initially. Air Senegal resumed its flights briefly before switching to another aircraft type in mid-2022. Swiss International Air Lines also had a few A340 flights before transitioning to other aircraft.

In contrast to today's single operator running one route with the A340 at JFK, peak operations occurred in summer 2007 with 138 weekly flights involving multiple airlines and one-stop routes. By July 2009, this number decreased significantly due to economic challenges.

Looking ahead, it seems unlikely that A340 operations at JFK will return to previous levels. Airlines now prefer more efficient twin-engine aircraft for long-haul missions.

Organizations Included in this History
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