Air Tahiti Nui (Papeete) is switching to Boeing for its long-range needs. The airline has announced it is committed to finalizing an order for two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The new type will replace its aging fleet of Airbus A340-300s (above and below).

Boeing issued this statement:

Boeing is pleased that Air Tahiti Nui has announced a commitment to purchase two 787-9 Dreamliners (below). The order, valued at $514 million at current list prices, will be posted on Boeing’s Orders and Deliveries website when finalized.

Update: Separately on March 3, 2015 Air Lease Corporation (ALC) announced an agreement to lease two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft to Air Tahiti Nui. Both aircraft are from ALC’s order book with Boeing and scheduled to deliver to French Polynesia’s flag carrier airline in the fall of 2018.

Above Copyright Photo: Joe G. Walker/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner N789EX (msn 41988) lands at Boeing Field.

Air Tahiti Nui, the flag-carrier for French Polynesia, has headquarters in Papeete and operates from Faa’a International Airport on the island of Tahiti.

Air Tahiti Nui aircraft slide show: 

Route Map:

Video: Air Tahiti Nui using a GoPro camera:

Video: Air Tahiti Nui. Celebrating 15 years of flying:

Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong) will retire its last Airbus A340-300 in 2017. The airline has announced a deal with AerFin to gradually take and dispose the aircraft from this month through 2017. The airline issued this statement:

AerFin Ltd (UK) and Cathay Pacific Airways have announced that AerFin has been selected to provide an end-of-life solution for the fleet of 11 A340-300 aircraft operated by the Hong Kong-based carrier. The agreement will see AerFin acquire and/or consign the aircraft over a three-year period through to 2017. The first A340 will be delivered to AerFin in March 2015 and will be disassembled to provide Cathay Pacific continued support for its operational fleet, and at the same time provide AerFin’s customer base with Serviceable Used Material to support continued operations.

Cathay Pacific is retiring the A340-300s as part of ongoing fleet modernization program that is seeing the airline replace older, less-efficient aircraft with new, more fuel-efficient aircraft. Cathay Pacific currently operates 147 aircraft in what is one of the youngest all-wide-body fleets in the world. The airline has some 79 aircraft on firm order for delivery up to 2024, including 48 Airbus A350s and 21 Boeing 777-9Xs.

UK based AerFin Limited specializes in providing end-of-life fleet solutions for investors, MROs, and airlines exposed to technically challenging assets. US based CarVal Investors LLC took an 80% shareholding in AerFin in December 2014 and their experienced team has navigated ever-changing credit market cycles, investing more than $78 billion in 5,200 transactions across 71 countries.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 B-HXI (msn 220) completes its final approach to the runway at London (Heathrow).

Cathay Pacific aircraft slide show: 

LAN Airlines (Chile) (Santiago) is getting ready to replace its aging Airbus A340-300s (above) with the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners (below). The venerable A340s are currently assigned to the long-range Santiago-Auckland-Sydney Southern Hemisphere trans-Pacific route.

The last regularly-scheduled revenue flight is currently scheduled for the morning of April 17 when flight LA 800 arrives from Auckland at 11:35 am (1135) in Santiago. However the A340 may be kept as a reserve aircraft after this last scheduled flight, pending any last minute changes.

The Chilean carrier took delivery of its first stretched Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (CC-BGA) on February 5.

In other news, LAN Airlines on January 27, 2016 will start to operate a weekly Boeing 787 flight on the Santiago-Caracas-Miami (on Wednesdays) route per Airline Route.

Top Copyright Photo: Alvaro Romero/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 CC-CQC (msn 363) arrives back at the Santiago (SCL) hub.

LAN Airlines (Chile) aircraft slide show: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Steve Bailey/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner CC-BGB (msn 35318) prepares to depart from Paine Field on a test flight on March 6. It is pending delivery to the carrier.

Philippine Airlines (Philippines) (Manila) as planned, departed from Manila yesterday (March 15) for its return to New York. The airline restored regular service to New York after an absence of 17 years. The Airbus A340-300 (above) will operate four days a week via Vancouver.

Philippine Airlines Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lucio C. Tan presented a Boeing 777 model aircraft to US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg during the March 15, 2015 send-off ceremony of the airline’s inaugural flight to New York.

Photo Below: Philippine Airlines. PAL Chairman and CEO Dr. Lucio Tan and PAL President and COO Jaime Bautista with US Ambassador to the Philippines Phillip Goldberg makes PAL’s New York official with the traditional ribbon cutting in Manila on the departure.

Photo Below: Philippine Airlines. The flight crew for the historic return to New York poses with CEO Dr. Lucio C. Tan.

Top Copyright Photo: Airbus A340-313 RP-C3435 (msn 302) taxies at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Philippines aircraft slide show: 

Cathay Pacific Airways (Hong Kong) is planning to drop the Hong Kong – Moscow (Domodedovo) route after June 1. The airline cited high operating costs.

Cathay Pacific launched flights to Moscow in July 2010. It currently serves the route three days a week with Airbus A340-300s.

Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 B-HXO (msn 128) arrives in London (Heathrow).

Cathay Pacific aircraft slide show: 

Air France (Paris) and its subsidiary French carriers continue to deal with a strike by several French air traffic controller unions. The strike started yesterday and continues today.

Here is the forecast by Air France for today:

The call for strike action by several French air traffic controllers’ unions is disrupting air traffic on Wednesday and Thursday April 8-9, 2015. The DGAC (French Civil Aviation Authority) has requested airlines to adapt their flight schedule to and from certain French airports.

On Thursday April 9,

LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS

• Air France expects to operate all its long-haul flights to and from Paris.

SHORT AND MEDIUM-HAUL FLIGHTS

• Air France expects to operate half its medium-haul flights to and from Paris-Charles de Gaulle
• HOP ! Air France expects to operate 25% of its flights to and from Paris-Orly
• HOP ! Air France expects to operate approximately 40% of its flights to and from French provincial airports

For customers with connections to or from a long-haul flight, whose medium-haul flight is cancelled, Air France is doing all it can to offer rerouting solutions.

There may be long delays on all flights.

On the short-haul and medium-haul network, there may be last-minute delays and cancellations. The Company recommends customers to postpone their trip to after 10 April, at no extra cost.

Airport teams and commercial staff remain mobilized to inform customers and minimize the inconvenience this strike action may cause.

Copyright Photo: Ole Simon/AirlinersGallery.com. The Airbus A340-300s will be phased out in 2016 along with the Boeing 747-400s. Airbus A340-313 F-GLZL (msn 210) taxies at the Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) hub.

Air France aircraft slide show: 

LAN Airlines (Chile) (Santiago) on Friday, April 17, 2015, operated its last Airbus A340-300 revenue flights. The planned last official flight, flight LA 800, was operated with the pictured Airbus A340-313 CC-CQF (msn 442) from Sydney and Auckland to Santiago, arriving at 12:35 (local time) on Runway 17L at Santiago International Airport. The last planned revenue flight was received with the typical water cannon salute (above) from the airport’s fire and rescue service.

Ironically, a few hours later, sister ship Airbus A340-313 CC-CQC (msn 363) was pressed into replacement revenue service and operated flight LA 642 to Lima, Peru.

It is expected the three remaining Airbus A340-300s will be leaving Chile in the near future.

Copyright Photo: Carlos Valle. Information and photo via Alvaro Romero reporting from Santiago, Chile.

LAN Airlines (Chile) aircraft slide show: 

The Lufthansa Group (Frankfurt) reported a net profit of €425 million ($474 million) for the first quarter. Here is the full report:

The Lufthansa Group has reported a positive course of business for the first quarter of 2015. At total revenue of nearly 8 per cent higher, the EBIT and adjusted EBIT both rose by EUR 73m. Both key performance indicators were thus 30 per cent higher than in the previous year. The Group closed the first quarter with an adjusted EBIT of EUR -167 m (previous year: EUR -240 m).

Simone Menne, Chief Officer Finance and Aviation Services of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, says: “All operating business segments were able to increase their results in the first quarter. Above all, Swiss International Air Lines (Zurich) and Lufthansa Cargo (Frankfurt) have done better than in the previous year. But Lufthansa German Airlines has also shown a positive development, although it was worse hit by strikes and other one-off effects than in the previous year.”

The Group result rose significantly more strongly than the adjusted EBIT in the reporting period. With a plus of EUR 677 m in comparison with the same quarter in the previous year, the Lufthansa Group achieved a consolidated result of EUR 425 m. An extraordinary effect from the premature exchange of JetBlue swaps made a significant contribution to this development. This transaction alone improved the financial result without an effect on equity by EUR 503m.

The result was once again overshadowed by the consequences of the strike called by the trade union Cockpit among the pilots of Lufthansa German Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and Germanwings on a total of six days between January and March 2015. Flight cancellations caused by strikes led to a burden on the result of EUR 42m. Due to weaker advance bookings in the following quarters as a consequence of the strike, Lufthansa expects a further burden on the result of EUR 58m.

Cash flows, which are important in view of high total investments, developed positively in the reporting period. Cash flow from operating activities rose to EUR 1,394m (previous year: EUR 855m), the free cash flow improved to EUR 532m (previous year: EUR 195m).

The actuarial interest rate for valuing pension obligations declined further in the first three months of the year, in Germany from 2.6 per cent to 1.7 per cent now. Thus the arithmetic pension burden rose by EUR 3.4bn. This was contrasted with a growth in pension assets of around EUR 500m. The equity ratio fell by 5.7 percentage points to 7.5 per cent now.

“This development shows once again how volatile the key figure ‘equity ratio’ has become since the introduction of the new IFRS accounting standards. We are not alone in this situation. However, other groups have already made the necessary structural change from a cover oriented to a contributions oriented pension commitment. Here, more urgently than ever, we need sustainably financeable solutions in place of obsolete structures. We can only achieve this together with our collective bargaining partners,” says Simone Menne.

Operating costs and income showed strong fluctuations in comparison with the same quarter in the previous year. What was decisive here was the significantly lower oil price, the continuing weakness of the euro and low interest rates. Fuel costs were EUR 209m lower than in the same quarter in the previous year, while expenses on fees went up by nearly 7 per cent, despite the lower number of flights and passengers. The weak euro and the rise in pension expenses also led to an increase in staff costs of nearly 7 per cent.

Simone Menne summarised the interim report for the first three months of the year: “We see positive developments in the result and in cash flow. This shows we are on the right course. At the same time, we continue to see great pressure to act. The enormous pension burdens are putting considerable pressure on our equity. And we cannot accept the continuing increase in fees or the development of our unit costs. Great efforts remain to be made here in order to strengthen the international competitiveness of all the business segments of the Lufthansa Group.”

Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Swiss and Lufthansa Cargo did better than in the same quarter than the previous year. The aging Swiss Airbus A340-300s will be replaced with the new Boeing 777-300 ERs on order. A340-313 HB-JMK (msn 169) taxies at the Zurich hub.

Swiss aircraft slide show: 

Air France-KLM Group (Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) (Paris and Amsterdam) have issued this statement:

This summer, in response to high market demand, Air France-KLM is strengthening its network in North America with new seasonal service between the United States and Europe. Starting May 4, Air France will operate nonstop flights between Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. In addition, beginning May 8, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will operate nonstop flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

Air France Service from Minneapolis-Saint Paul

For the third consecutive year, Air France is offering nonstop flights between Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. From May 4 until September 27, 2015, Air France will operate up to 14 flights a week connecting Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Paris, seven of which will be operated in codeshare by its joint-venture partner Delta Air Lines (Atlanta). The Air France flights will operate on an Airbus A340-300 (above), featuring a capacity of 275 seats (30 seats in Business, 21 in Premium Economy and 224 in Economy).

Flight schedules (local times)

AF673: Departure from Minneapolis at 7:55 p.m., arrival at 11:25 a.m. the next day
AF694: Departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 1:45 p.m., arrival in Minneapolis at 3:50 p.m.

From May 4 to June 7, 2015, flights are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. From June 8 to August 30, flights are scheduled daily. From August 31 to September 27, flights are scheduled every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Service from Dallas-Fort Worth

From May 8 until October 24, 2015, nonstop flights operated by KLM will connect Dallas-Fort Worth and Amsterdam-Schiphol. Over this period, the airline will operate up to five flights per week. An Airbus A330-200 (below) will be used for the flights, with a capacity of 243 seats (30 seats in Business and 213 in Economy). KLM has been flying to this seasonal destination since March 2008.

Flight schedules (local times)

KL670: Departure from Dallas-Fort Worth at 3:30 p.m., arrival at Amsterdam-Schiphol at 7:55 a.m. the next day.
KL669: Departure from Amsterdam-Schiphol at 10:35 a.m., arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth at 1:40 p.m.

From May 8 to October 4, 2015, flights are scheduled every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays. From October 5 to October 24, flights are scheduled on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

19 Destinations in North America

During the 2015 summer season, Air France-KLM will serve 19 destinations in North America. In addition to the two new seasonal connections to Minneapolis and Dallas, the group is increasing its flights from Vancouver, Canada, with Air France operated flights to Paris-Charles de Gaulle that started on March 29, 2015. Starting May 19, 2015, KLM will begin service between Edmonton, Canada, and Amsterdam-Schiphol. Air France-KLM’s network is further strengthened by the transatlantic joint-venture between Air France, KLM, Alitalia, and Delta Air Lines – a partnership that represents 25% of total airline capacity between Europe and North America.

Top Copyright Photo: Rolf Wallner/AirlinersGallery.com. Air France Airbus A340-313 F-GLZO (msn 246) lands in Zurich.

Air France aircraft slide show: 

KLM aircraft slide show: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. KLM’s Airbus A330-203 PH-AOF (msn 801) taxies at the Amsterdam hub.

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) starting on October 27 will resume flying to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The airline will utilize Airbus A340-300s to fly between Frankfurt and Nairobi four times a week in winter 2015/16 and five times a week from December 11. Flight LH 590 will leave Lufthansa’s Frankfurt hub every morning on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays (and on Fridays from December 11, 2015 to the end of January 2016) and will reach Nairobi in the evening after a journey of more than eight hours.

The return aircraft will take off from Nairobi as a night flight in the late evening and lands the morning of the following day at Frankfurt Airport.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 D-AIFF (msn 447) approaches the runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

Lufthansa aircraft slide show: 

Philippines (Philippine Airlines) (Manila) on March 15, 2016, will launch three weekly flights from Cebu, the capital city of Cebu Province in the Philippines, and Los Angeles. The new service will be operated with Airbus A340-300s per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 RP-C3435 (msn 302) approaches the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Philippines aircraft slide show: 

SriLankan Airlines (Colombo) is in the final phases of the retirement of its aging Airbus A340-300s. The carrier is currently planning to operate the last revenue flight on November 12, 2015 between Colombo and Male and return per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 4R-ADF (msn 374) departs from London (Heathrow) in the past.

SriLankan Airlines aircraft slide show: 

Airline Aircraft Type “Endangered Species List”:

Finnair (Helsinki) has issued this financial fleet guidance as it prepares to accept its first Airbus A350-900:

Finnair, which is the European launch customer for the Airbus A350-900 XWB, is preparing to receive its first A350 delivery from Airbus in early October.

As Finnair announced in December 2013, it has made sale and leaseback agreements for its two first A350 aircraft with GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services). These agreements will be concluded in connection with the delivery of the respective aircraft, and the value of the transaction is approximately EUR 260 million.

It has also been stated previously that non-recurring items associated with the long haul fleet renewal in 2015 will have a substantial positive impact on Finnair’s operating result due to the strengthened US Dollar. This separate guidance covered the sale and leaseback agreements for Finnair’s first two A350s, constituting a significant positive impact, as well as the phase out of all Finnair’s remaining A340-300s, which will involve non-recurring costs primarily materialising in 2015. The remainder of these costs, presently estimated at below EUR 10 million, will be booked in 2016.

Calculated at present exchange rates, the positive net impact of these arrangements on Finnair’s operating profit in H2/2015 is expected to amount to approximately EUR 70 million.

Finnair has ordered a total of 19 new A350-900 XWB aircraft, and under the target delivery schedule it will receive four aircraft in the second half of 2015, seven in 2016–2017 and eight in 2018–2023.

Finnair will dispose of the seven A340-300 aircraft it currently operates by the end of 2017, replacing them as the A350s are delivered and enter into service on Finnair’s scheduled traffic routes.

Airbus has agreed to acquire four A340-300 aircraft currently owned by Finnair in 2016 and 2017.

Since the arrangements relating to both sale and leaseback of the A350s and the sale of A340-300s are denominated in US Dollars, the final financial impact depends on the EUR/USD exchange rate prevailing at the time of delivery of the respective aircraft.

Disclosures on financing arrangements for the A350 aircraft other than the first two to be delivered will be made as those agreements are finalized. Finnair’s fleet consists of both owned and leased aircraft.

Top Copyright Photo: Eurospot/AirlinersGallery.com. The first Finnair Airbus A350-941 is the pictured F-WZFM (msn 018) on a test flight at Toulouse. It will become OH-LWA when it is handed over on October 7, 2015.

Finnair aircraft slide show: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. The last aging Airbus A340-300 will be retired at the end of 2017. Airbus A340-313 OH-LQB (msn 835) taxies at Brussels.

Airline Aircraft Type “Endangered Species List” (aircraft types soon to be retired) (click on the photo below for the full list):

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Lufthansa (Frankfurt) today (September 25) launched its new nonstop service to Florida’s west coast. Lufthansa issued this statement:

Flight LH 482 left Frankfurt (FRA) at 11:00 local time, and is due to land at Tampa International Airport (TPA) later today at 15:50 local time. The corresponding eastbound flight LH 483 will depart from Tampa at 17:20 local time, and is scheduled to touch down in Frankfurt at 08:45 tomorrow (Saturday, September 26).

Lufthansa will be offering five weekly flights on its new Frankfurt-Tampa route until October 25 under the present summer schedules. This will change to four weekly services with the start of the 2015/16 winter schedules on October 26.

Tampa is the Lufthansa’s third Florida destination, joining Miami and Orlando. With the addition of its new service, Lufthansa now serves a total of 18 US destinations.

Airbus A340-300s which will be used on the new services are all equipped with FlyNet broadband internet facilities, and will be operated in a three-class configuration: an 18-seat Business Class, a 19-seat Premium Economy Class and a 261-seat Economy Class, giving a total capacity of 298 seats.

Average flying time on the 7,721 kilometers (4,169 nautical miles) route is 10 hours 50 minutes.

Copyright Photo: TMK Photography/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-311 D-AIGC (msn 027) in the Star Alliance livery departs from Toronto (Pearson).

Lufthansa aircraft slide show: 

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SriLankan Airlines (Colombo) is now planning to operate its last Airbus A340-300 revenue flight on November 14 between Dammam and Colombo per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 4R-ADF (msn 374) departs from London (Heathrow).

SriLankan Airlines aircraft slide show: 

Air France (Paris) has announced it will eliminate another 2,900 positions and cut its long-haul fleet by 14 aircraft after a critical board meeting. The long-haul fleet is being reduced from 107 aircraft to only 93. The cuts are coming after management failed to reach a new agreement with its pilots union.

The cut positions include 300 pilots, 900 flight attendants and 1,700 ground staff.

AF will expedite the retirement of its remaining Airbus A340-300s.

The company is also canceling its order for 12 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Angry AF employees attacked company executives as they left the meeting.

Read the full report by rt.com: 

Copyright Photo: Stefan Sjogren/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A340-313 F-GLZM (msn 237) arrives in Stockholm (Arlanda).

Air France aircraft slide show: 

Emirates (Dubai) has announced its fleet plans for 2016. In total, the airline will aggressively retire 26 aircraft, including 12 Airbus A330-300s, 4 A340-300s, 1 A340-500, 6 Boeing 777-200 ERs, 2 Boeing 777-300s and 1 Boeing 777-300 ER. The average age of the Emirates aircraft slated for retirement in 2016 will be 15.7 years, well-below the average industry retirement age of 25. In addition, 13 more aircraft will be retired in 2017 and another 13 will be retired in 2018.

Top Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. The four Airbus A340-300s will be retired next year. Airbus A340-313 A6-ERS (msn 139) arrives at the Dubai hub.

This means the Airbus A340-300, the last A340-500 (A6-ERE) and Boeing 777-200 ER fleets will now be retired in 2016.

The remaining Airbus A330-200s will likely be retired now in 2017.

Below Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. The last remaining Airbus A340-500 will also be retired in 2016. Now retired, A340-541 A6-ERH (msn 611) is pictured arriving at the Dubai hub.

The fast-growing airline continued;

Balancing its aircraft retirement program, Emirates will take delivery of 36 new aircraft in 2016, including 20 Airbus A380s and 16 Boeing 777-300 ERs. These two aircraft types are recognized as some of the most efficient and quiet commercial airplanes available, emitting on average 12% less carbon dioxide than the aircraft being retired. At the end of 2016, the aircraft retirements and new deliveries will put Emirates’ average fleet age at 5.6 years, dramatically younger than the global average. A recent analysis shows the average fleet age for the top five airlines in North America is 13.6 years, while the average fleet age for the top five airlines in Europe is 10.7 years.

Currently, the total number of aircraft in the Emirates fleet stands at 243. In 2015, the airline received 26 new aircraft, including 15 A380s, 10 Boeing 777-300ERs and 1 Boeing 777 Freighter. The airline has 263 additional aircraft on order, worth over US$120 billion at list prices. Its order book includes 71 Airbus A380s, 42 Boeing 777-300ERs, 115 Boeing 777-9Xs and 35 Boeing 777-8Xs.

Above Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. The six smaller Boeing 777-200 ERs will now be retired in 2016. Boeing 777-21H ER A6-EMI (msn 27250) arrives in London (Heathrow).

When delivered beginning in 2020, the new Boeing 777Xs will come with a variety of fuel efficient design additions making it almost 20% more fuel efficient than previous models. It will also include a range of passenger-focused amenities including larger windows, increased cabin pressure, more humidity, higher ceilings and a wider cabin than previous models.

In addition to reducing the age of its fleet, Emirates also implements a variety of other environmental practices that reduces CO2 emissions. These include FlexTracks, a program that plans efficient flight route patterns based on weather conditions; single-engine taxi on the ground; idle reverse thrust upon landing; and fuel-efficient ground handling and transportation equipment. Emirates publishes its environmental initiatives and emissions performance data annually as part of the Emirates Group environmental report available on http://www.emirates.com/environment.

Emirates aircraft slide show: 

Airline Aircraft Endangered Species List: 

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) is adding three new long-haul destinations from its Frankfurt hub to Cancún, Mexico, Malé, in the Maldives, and Mauritius.

The expansion kicked off on December 8, when flight LH 514 departed Frankfurt for Cancún. This was followed on Wednesday, December 9 with flight LH 704 to Malé. The week was rounded off on December 10 with flight LH 708 to Mauritius.

Lufthansa has added to its network in the last few months, with Tampa, Florida and Nairobi, Kenya being added in late September and late October respectively. In March 2016, flights to Panama City, Panama will begin.

The aircraft used for these flights – equipped with a FlyNet broadband connection – is the Airbus A340-300, with seats spread over three different travel classes. Out of a total of 298 seats, 18 are in Business Class, 19 in Premium Economy and 261 in Economy.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. 8 Airbus A340-300s are being transferred to and leased-back from Lufthansa CityLine and will be operated in a high-density configuration on leisure routes. Airbus A340-313 D-AIGY (msn 335) prepares to depart from the Frankfurt hub.

Lufthansa aircraft slide show: 

SriLankan Airlines (Colombo) yesterday (January 7) operated its last Airbus A340-300 revenue flight from Chennai to Colombo with the pictured A340-313 4R-ADF (msn 374). The airline issued this statement and photos of the historic event:

SriLankan Airlines, the first Asian airline to operate the four-engine Airbus A340 aircraft, bid goodbye to the last of its A340s after more than two decades in service, with a final commercial flight on January 7, 2016.

SriLankan introduced the A340 on September 1, 1994, at the time when it was the most sophisticated aircraft manufactured by Airbus Industrie. Over this 21-year period, a total of seven A340s have served the airline, and were for many years the mainstay of its long haul fleet.

Above Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com (all others by SriLankan).

SriLankan Airlines aircraft slide show: 

Below Photo: 4R-ADF and the crew received the traditional water cannon salute on its return to Colombo.

Below Photo: Final handshake recived from SriLankan’s CEO – Suren Ratwatte to Capt. Nanda Nadarajah (former Chief Pilot A340).

Below Photo: The crew of the last revenue flight:

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