The German airline is further reducing its fleet. All Airbus A340-600 are parked in the east of Spain for at least one year. A return is uncertain.
Actually, ten copies should remain: On April 7, in view of the corona crisis, Lufthansa announced that it would take seven of its 17 Airbus A340-600s out of service. But that’s not enough. The airline has further reduced the flight plan and is now saying goodbye to all of the 75.3 meter four-seater models, at least temporarily.
“Three aircraft have already been flown to Teruel in northeastern Spain,” Lufthansa announced on Thursday (April 16). In the next two to three months, all further A340-600s are to follow. “The use of these aircraft in regular scheduled service is not planned for at least the next one to one and a half years.”
Parking lot with lots of sunshine
Lufthansa plans to decide later how to proceed with the Airbus A340-600. However, reactivation is only possible for ten of the long-haul jets. Teruel is located between Zaragoza and Valencia in Aragon. “With around 240 days of sunshine a year and little rainfall, the region is particularly suitable for parking planes,” said Lufthansa. In Teruel, the joint venture Tarmac Aerosave from Airbus, Suez and Safran operates a stand for 115 aircraft.
The A340-600 from Lufthansa are between 11 and 16.5 years old. There is a variant with 281 seats (eight in the first, 56 in the business, 28 in the premium economy and 189 in the economy class) and one with 297 seats (eight in the first, 44 in the business, 32 in the premium) Economy and 213 in Economy). Because of their four engines, the planes are not very efficient, especially with higher fuel prices.
Swiss opts for smaller A340-300s
Lufthansa also has 17 of the smaller A340-300s, four of them on the Lufthansa City Line. Three of the daughter’s four planes retire. The Swiss Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss, on the other hand, wants to fully rely on its five A340-300s when restarting after the corona crisis. “We have the ideal aircraft with them,” said Swiss CEO Thomas Klühr recently.
In the picture gallery above you can see pictures of the Airbus A340-600 from Lufthansa.
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