Available A-340's - Thai

[YVINTERN]

ehh ugly paint scheme on a wide body like that

 

[PBI2FLL]

Actually it is potentially feasible to use the -500 on PHL-PEK and still conserve fuel. All they need to do is significantly reduce the passenger and cargo sizes to a TOW compatible with a economically less than maximum fuel load for the journey. Also, a Polar routing typically has less environmental purturbations (e.g., wind), than an East-West routing. If the stated intent for this route is still valid (money looser for first 3 years (or so) and a "keyhole" into Asia), then why not use the -500s IF they can be leased at significant discount through 2013? This would also be a perfect aircraft (if fuel returns to reasonable levels) for NRT, HKG, DEL or possibly even SIN.

The A340-500 would insure maximum capacity on the China route without penalty. I think it would be a good temporary solution until the A350s arrive. How economical can it be to operate an A330-200 on the route with weight restrictions?

 

[TechBoy]

I suspect that US management is watching the fact that UA is planning on reducing IAD-PEK from a 747 to a 777 and wondering what kind of loads/yields they are going to be able to produce from PHL. IAD has much higher yielding international traffic than PHL. US management has probably concluded that the route will produce much larger initial losses at current fuel prices and has decided to postpone that pain as long as possible.

As for the 345s, they are the worst possible choice. Designed for very long routes, the 345 has the fuel burn characteristics of the 346, but capacity closer to the 343. It's not surprising that Airbus has only delivered 26 of these planes and that Thai is looking to get rid of them.