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LARGEST & LONGEST Airbus's largest and latest airliner, the A340-600, took off from Manchester Airport shortly after noon on Wednesday, November 14,
for a 15-hour non-stop proving flight as part of the aircraft's on-going certification programme. On board were 270 passengers from the various divisions of Airbus UK which manufacture many of the aircraft's components, including the wings, together with Rolls-Royce employees who provided the RR Trent engines.
 Departing from Manchester's second runway the aircraft headed East,
crossing over Denmark and Sweden to Helsinki in Finland, here it turned
North crossing the Arctic Circle to Tromso, at the top of Norway; the
aircraft then followed the Norwegian coastline down for a short distance
before setting course over the North Atlantic as far as Iceland, where a
further course change saw the A340-600 heading South to Ireland then on
to Portugal as far as Cadiz before turning East again over Spain to
Ibiza, then it was back North again, flying over Paris and London on its
way back to Manchester where it touched down in the early hours of
Thursday morning.
For such a long flight the aircraft carried a double complement of
Airbus pilots including Peter Chandler (Captain), Patrick
Baudry, Jean-Michel Proust and Nagi Absi, along with two cabin
co-ordinators and a cabin crew of 14. The aircraft, which first flew in September and is the third production
A340-600, has been equipped with a full passenger cabin and facilities.
The Manchester flight was one of a series of long range proving flights
which took place last month as part of the Airbus A340-600 development
programme.
Operating to a standard airline flight profile, the flights were made to
examine the functioning and comfort of the cabin systems, such as
air-conditioning, galleys and toilets.
The other flights in the A340-600 maturity programme featured four
non-stop flights of five, seven, ten and fourteen hours duration,
departing from Toulouse, Madrid and Hamburg, again all carrying Airbus
employees. The lucky ones on the sixth flight on November 19 had a
stopover in Mauritius, following a fifteen-hour flight from Toulouse,
with the aircraft flying over Dakar (Senegal) and Accra (Ghana) on
Africa's west coast, before crossing the African continent on its way
for a touchdown on the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius.
CABIN COMFORT Passenger comfort, always a prime concern for Airbus, is of particular
importance on long and ultra-long haul flights lasting from 10 to 18
hours. Consequently the new A340 cabin has been designed to provide
passengers with greater physical space via a raised ceiling and reshaped
cabin contours, giving more space at shoulder and head height for
passengers in the window seat, and more room below the overhead stowage
bins. Great care is also taken to ensure the quality of air more than
meets the standards in terms of temperature, pressure and cleanliness.
Airbus aircraft are fitted with highly efficient air filters so that air
quality is higher in the cabin than that specified for intensive care
units.
The enhanced comfort standards of the A340-500 and -600 extend well
beyond the bounds of the main cabin, thanks to the A330/A340 Family’s
unmatched capability of using lower-deck space. The A340-500 and -600
can be equipped with innovative under floor amenities for passengers and
crew reached by a staircase from the main cabin, such as passenger
lounges, under floor toilets, and crew rest areas – already in
widespread A340 use. The A340-600 can be equipped with up to six lower
deck lavatories and a self-contained galley complex.
ULTRA LONG RANGE The new A340 variants were launched in December 1997 and will enter
into airline service worldwide from mid-2002 with Emirates and Virgin
Atlantic being amongst the first recipients. The first A340-600 made its
maiden flight on April 23, 2001, and the first flight of the –500 is
scheduled for the first quarter of 2002.
The high-capacity A340-600, is the longest and largest airliner built by Airbus to date, measuring 246ft 11in in length, it is almost 15ft longer
than its nearest passenger carrying rival, the 747-400 and typically
carries 380 passengers in a three-class cabin layout, over a distance of
up to 7,500 nautical miles. A two-class layout will accommodate a
maximum of 419 passengers.
Whereas the A340-600 carries the most passengers, the 24ft 3ins shorter
ultra-long range A340-500 is capable of transporting 313 passengers in a
three-class cabin over a non-stop range of 8,650 nautical miles -
farther than any other commercial jetliner in service.
The A340-600, is now approaching the halfway mark in its flight
development programme, with the three participating aircraft having
flown more than 700 hours in over 225 flights.
CARGO BONUS The A340-600 is seen by Airbus as the ideal economic replacement for first-generation 400-seat aircraft. This twenty-frame (over the A340-300) super-stretched A340 provides a passenger capacity similar to
a 747 but with twice the underfloor cargo pallet capability, and at
incomparably lower trip and seat costs.
Containerised or palletised cargo can be accommodated in both the front
and rear underfloor holds as standard. This is possible due to the
volume efficiency of the 222-inch fuselage cross-section that is the
trademark of Airbus widebody design.
After allowing for full passenger baggage in containers, the A330-200
offers space for five underfloor freight pallets, more than in its two
nearest competitors. This increases to eight pallets in the
A330/A340-300, again beating the nearest competitor, and ten pallets in
the A340-600 – which is twice the capacity of the 747-400. |
FIRST FOR JMC Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, JMC Airlines' Airbus A330-200 arrived at Manchester Airport where it was based for a period of intensive crew training, prior to operating the airline's first A330 revenue service from Gatwick on November 16, to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.