"I love the A340"
Sorry but I despise it! All apart from the -600.
It's a sad day when a 70s vintage 747-100 outperforms an A340 of the deck. Crawling along at 180knts climbing solely due to the curvature of the earth.... The Virgin reports "we are accelerating"..... My a@%e!
In answer to my query "if given further climb can you increase your rate?". The Virgin crew simply replied "Nope!"
Honesty if nothing else!