Story ID: 576AirbusA340
Airbus ‘Terminates’ A340
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: Airbus has manufactured its last A340.
Word Count: 201
Airbus has manufactured its last A340 following an extended period of extremely slow sales for the four-engine widebody. A EADS spokesman today confirmed the “termination” of the program, as revealed today in the company's third-quarter earnings report. The decision resulted in a “positive one off” of €192 million ($263 million), according to the report.
The EADS spokesman told AIN that the last A340 actually rolled off its assembly line in Toulouse, France, roughly six months ago, but that the company chose not to publicize the fact until today. Airbus has delivered all but two of the 377 A340s manufactured since it launched the program in 1987.
A pair of VIP customers await imminent delivery following interior completion. All told, the program had attracted 48 customers during its 24-year run (Airbus launched the A330 and A340 programs at the same time in 1987, and delivered the first A340 in 1993).
Airbus has not sold an A340 since the beginning of 2010, said the spokesman, who added that the cancellation of the program will not result in any changes to employment, primarily because Airbus built the A340 on the same line where it still builds the far more popular A330 twin-engine widebody.