If not all, many of us, yours truly included...🙂...are eagerly waiting for the A340-313 variant to be (hopefully) soon released by iniBuilds, for both PC and (thanks to iniBuilds) also Xbox here...🙂...The single purchase is expected to include the Pax, ACJ (luxury), and the "Preighter" (aka: Pax-to-Freighter conversion) models, which sounds good, especially if you're a fan of this aircraft. After all, the A340 is the only other and more classic of the two 4-engined Airbus types, besides the behemoth A380. It's also an airplane that's personally dear to me, from past decades of travels on it. 

Interestingly, as I was checking FlightAware today, I found 3 A340-340 (DLH) flights listed just for this week itself from my homebase for the outgoing (KORD->EDDF) route, and also 3 A340-300 flights listed for the incoming (EDDF->KORD) route (btw, LH's A342s, A346s, and A330ceos (332s, 333s) have now likely gone silent already). The outgoing A343 flight numbers are odd (433) and the incoming flight numbers are even (432), and these (LH) numbers have not probably changed in the last 40 years...🙂...which are also the numbers I distinctly recall from my own travels. Of course, LH also deploys the Boeing 748s on this route. Interestingly, though LH never deployed the ubiquitous Boeing 777 type for pax service, I noticed, on FlightAware, a couple of flights this week operated by the 777-200 (#s DLH8188/DLH8189), between Chicago and Frankfurt. Note, however, that the 4-digit flight numbers indicate they are for 777 Cargo flights (NOT Pax). 

Anyway, the stalwart long-hauler of yesteryears, the diehard A340-300, the design of which was (originally) conceived in mid-70s (at the same time as Airbus's very first entry, the A300 that gave birth to the Airbus name), is still plying the transoceanic skies today, after "50" years, with at least a few major global operators. This is a testament to the durability, longevity, and (one-time) innovative (fly-by-wire) design of this (surviving) "single deck" quadjet of our relatively modern times (3 and 4 engined airliners are always a bit more fun, speaking purely from an aviation enthusiast's perspective...🙂...). The A340 is also credited with a remarkable safety record of its own.

As I was reading a bit about the A340 today, a minor bit of history intrigued me, "The history of the A340 and mobile phone use in the sky intersected during a time of intense technological development, when the issue of cellular interference with aircraft was a significant concern. The A340 was famously used to test and help develop the in-flight mobile and Wi-Fi technology that is commonplace today." Indeed, in 2008, Emirates Airlines introduced an A340 flight as the first ever commercial jet to allow passengers to make outgoing calls during flight. Around those years, well prior to the availability of today's smart phones with international connectivity, I vividly recall carrying with me (pre-paid) "international phone cards" or/and (frantically) looking for "international phone booths" in foreign airports to call friends and family...🙂...

Anyway, today, I thought of taking out this (LVFR) A340-300 on a short test circuit (as prep for the iniBuilds A340-300...🙂...), around Emirates's Hub, Dubai (OMDB) airport, lifting off northward from Runway 30R into the airspace over the waters of Persian Gulf, and then circling around, under (managed) lateral guidance, back to the (IF) Fix UKRIM of OMDB's ILS Approach to Runway 12L (see cockpit ND and MSFS EFB Map screenshots).

While the initial version from iniBuilds may not be in perfect shape for the serious aviators...🙂...here...; from my perspective, it'll be exciting to be able to (finally) fly a "decent" A340 in the Microsoft Simulator world (the last one I recall was the one by feelThere...🙂...). So, despite any (possible) technical inaccuracies (and lack of system fidelities) of the initial simulation, it will be nice to fly the 340, at least for the sake of memories, affection and respect, that I've always carried for this quadjet Airbus. Of course, under intense criticism...🙂..., any remnant deficiencies and faults with the initial rendition, will be hopefully corrected soon enough.

The A340-300 was powered by the CFM56-5C series powerplants. The iniBuilds A343 is also expected to simulate the CFM56-5C4 engines, and to think that the same CFM56 series ("B" Type) was also used on the A320ceo and B737NG twinjet narrowbodies, shows the age and legacy origin of the A340. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the collection of images, from my short flight today, of this venerable A340 (long-haul) airliner...clearly a tired soul in our aviation world today...🙂...on its way-out while making room for the new kids on the block...the younger, shinier, lighter, and more powerful (twinjet) B787s and A350s...

Thanks for viewing and happy flying...!

Edited October 5, 2025Oct 5 by P_7878

Fine shots, thanks for sharing !

It is not planned for for MSFS2020 and IMO that's not right, because I'm convinced that there are currently more users who use MSFS2020 more regularly than MSFS2024 and that's not fair.. But that's certainly another matter for Microsoft, who have a say in the decision so that users switch to MSFS2024, which you could do, but not as long as MSFS2024 isn't really as stable and (more or less) as perfect as MSFS2020.

And this is fact !

But today everything is politics, to bad about that..

cheers 😉

pmplayer and John:

Thanks for the responses on this (LVFR) A340 version…not a perfect SIM by any means but something that has helped me tide over till we get a better A340…🙂…

 

5 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Fine shots, thanks for sharing !

It is not planned for for MSFS2020 and IMO that's not right, because I'm convinced that there are currently more users who use MSFS2020 more regularly than MSFS2024 and that's not fair.. But that's certainly another matter for Microsoft, who have a say in the decision so that users switch to MSFS2024, which you could do, but not as long as MSFS2024 isn't really as stable and (more or less) as perfect as MSFS2020.

And this is fact !

But today everything is politics, to bad about that..

cheers 😉

Point well taken, pmplayer….not sure what’s going on there, but beyond our control…
 

As I understand, the Aerosoft/ToLiss A340-600 will be first released for MSFS2020 and then later optimized for MSFS2024. 

Curiously, though Lufthansa continues to operate the A346 on some routes, they now only use the A343 on my familiar (O’Hare / Frankfurt) route. I recall the A346 was always running fully occupied on this route. I’m actually more looking forward to that (longer and slimmer) one…🙂…whenever that happens for me in the Marketplace…

Cheers…!

Edited October 6, 2025Oct 6 by P_7878