A340 for sale.

[VSsenior]

Does anyone fancy buying an ex VS A340, fully equipped still with all interior, 10 years old.

All for the bargain price of £19,000,000

What a shame that these aircraft are being sold or scrapped. Too many good days flying these.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I can only go to £5,000,000 on my CAA pension...

[DaveReidUK]

Nowadays, you can't even give A340s away ...

[Booglebox]

-300 or -600?
I think the -500 model would make a fantastic VIP airliner, with its range capability. Also, you can park it at an airport for a few days without them getting very upset, whereas with the -600 parking is effectively impossible to find apart from places like Montreal Mirabel, Victorville, Manston before it closed, Dubai world central, or Airbus locations like Hamburg Finkenwerder or Toulouse :{

[VSsenior]

That's for the -600

It's a total shame they are being wasted.

[SpringHeeledJack]

I think the -500 model would make a fantastic VIP airliner, with its range capability

Wasn't that A340 that was marooned at the Lufthansa Technik werk in HAM for a few years one of those -500 versions ? Or was it a -8000 ? Whatever, it ended up as exactly that, a VIP steed.

[grounded27]

It is no secret that Airbus are designed to be scrapped at a much younger age/hrs than their competitors airframes are. Also their are much more efficient aircraft out there that do the same job in the market.

[mutt]

Or was it a -8000 ? Whatever, it ended up as exactly that, a VIP steed. It ended up as HZ-HMS2

the -500 was purchased for the Saad Group (saudi arabia / bahrain) who decided not to convert the aircraft.

[mikkie4]

Need to move my money from my swiss bank account:d:d:d:d:d

[TOWTEAMBASE]

STN will take a 600 !!!

[philbky]

So will MAN

[LadyL2013]

I get why they are getting rid, but the ever decreasing lack of variety in the skies saddens me.

[Booglebox]

towteambase and philbky, really? Cool if so.
The problem is with the VIP stomping ground i.e. Nice, Olbia, Paris, Moscow, etc.
Positioning an A340 hundreds of miles for parking gets expensive fast.

[dc9-32]

I'll just check my HSBC Swiss account and see what I have available....:mad:

[philbky]

MAN has seen the VIR 600s on diversion many times, and they will operate on schedule from MAN this summer. Etihad 600s turn up from time to time on the scheduled services and VIR, LH and IB 600s pass through for repainting.

[750XL]

MAN has seen the VIR 600s on diversion many times, and they will operate on schedule from MAN this summer. Etihad 600s turn up from time to time on the scheduled services and VIR, LH and IB 600s pass through for repainting.

That's true, but they aren't usually welcome to stay for any length of time due to the amount of space they take up on the apron and limited parking stands. Throw a 744 and 77W in the mix and you're out of options very quickly for parking at MAN.

[philbky]

Well come this summer Virgin's will.

[Porrohman]

An 11 year old former BMI A332 was scrapped at Sanford a few years ago. Apparently the parts value was more attractive to the lessor than the lease rate that was achievable. See;

BMI A330 G-WWBD Being Scrapped - FlyerTalk Forums (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1403514-bmi-a330-g-wwbd-being-scrapped.html)

[TOWTEAMBASE]

VIRGIN have been to STN on div too, as well as a spanair that brought Real Madrid in for a champions league game. Probably has a few more stands capable now they have made the cargo apron longer for the -8s

[tupungato]

Low demand for A340s... It might be worth more as "engines + scrap".

[El Bunto]

An A346 can take a heck of a lot of under-floor cargo; 42 LD3s, versus 32 in a B744.

Edit: just two short of a B77W.

Basically a combi without all the hassle of main-deck cargo.

Would make an amazing non-stop freighter to / from China with the ability to take a load of self-loading organic units too, if necessary...

[SpringHeeledJack]

How do the economics stack up (pun intended ;) ) of a 777W and the 340-600 over the same route, anyone ? To the best of my knowledge there have never been any freighter 340's which is surprising bearing in mind most other passenger jets seem to have undergone conversions or had dedicated freighter versions from the factory.

[Booglebox]

Here's a good study, although it's 15 years old, so fuel prices and ETOPS time have both gone up a lot.
http://tinyurl.com/lp365py

An A346 can take a heck of a lot of under-floor cargo

Reduce that by 5-10t if you plan on having a luxurious premium cabin in the front.

[El Bunto]

The A346 is indeed soundly beaten by the B77W on fuel-consumption, but if you're a new-entrant airline without ETOPS certification then you have to take that pain and hope you can claw it back on cargo revenue.

Though it does mean you can do all your engine maintenance with one team! Work 'em hard!

Virgin received ETOPS-180 approval in 2011 but haven't, as far as I know, worked towards 240. Do they need that now that they're phasing-out the quads? Not sure.

[Flying Mechanic]

Hopefully they might get a second life as a Freighter. I saw the 340 test a/c at Don Muang airport 18 months ago, and it had a rear freight door.

[DaveReidUK]

Hopefully they might get a second life as a Freighter. I saw the 340 test a/c at Don Muang airport 18 months ago, and it had a rear freight door.

Are you sure this isn't what you saw?

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4089/5030366257_4eca3c0e90_z.jpg

http://oi41.tinypic.com/esnsp2.jpg

Don't try opening it. :O

[Flying Mechanic]

Maybe it was!! It was raining at the time to.