page_title: Airbus A340
section_title: Accidents and incidents
hierarchical_section_title: Airbus A340 / Accidents and incidents
caption_attribution_description: English: Air France Airbus A340-300, flight number 358, one day after the crash
context_page_description: The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner that was developed and produced by the European aerospace company Airbus.
  In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with the A330 twinjet.
  In June 1987, Airbus launched both designs with their first orders and the A340-300 took its maiden flight on 25 October 1991.
  It was certified along with the A340-200 on 22 December 1992 and both versions entered service in March 1993 with launch customers Lufthansa and Air France.
  The larger A340-500/600 were launched on 8 December 1997, the A340-600 flew for the first time on 23 April 2001 and entered service on 1 August 2002.
  Keeping the eight-abreast economy cross-section of the A300, the early A340-200/300 has a similar airframe to the A330.
  Differences include four 151 kN CFM56s instead of two high-thrust turbofans to bypass ETOPS restrictions on trans-oceanic routes, and a three-leg main landing gear instead of two for a heavier 276 t MTOW.
  Both airliners have fly-by-wire controls, which was first introduced on the A320, as well as a similar glass cockpit.
context_section_description: As of June 2020, the A340 has never been involved in a fatal incident, although there have been six hull losses:
  20 January 1994 – an Air France A340-200 registered F-GNIA was destroyed by fire during servicing at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
  5 November 1997 – a Virgin Atlantic Airways Airbus A340-311 conducted an emergency landing on Runway 27L at London (England) Heathrow Airport with the aircraft's left-main landing gear partially extended. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service.
  29 August 1998 – a Sabena A340-300 (OO-SCW) was severely damaged while landing on Runway 25L in Brussels Zaventem Airport. The right main gear collapsed; the right engines and wingtip hit the runway and slid to the right in soft ground. The 248 passengers and 11 crew were safely evacuated. The cause of the gear failure was found to be a fatigue crack. Although severely damaged, the aircraft was repaired and returned to service for 16 years until it was stored.
  24 July 2001 – a SriLankan Airlines A340-300 registered 4R-ADD was destroyed on the ground at Bandaranaike International Airport; being one of 26 aircraft which were damaged or destroyed during a major attack upon the airport by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam militants.
  2 August 2005 – Air France Flight 358 was destroyed by a crash and subsequent fire after it overran runway 24L at Toronto Pearson International Airport while landing in a thunderstorm. The aircraft slid into Etobicoke Creek and caught fire. All 297 passengers and 12 crew survived; 43 people were injured, 12 seriously.
  9 November 2007 – an Iberia Airlines A340-600 was badly damaged after sliding off the runway at Ecuador's Mariscal Sucre International Airport. The landing gear collapsed and two engines broke off. All 345 passengers and 14 crew members were evacuated via inflatable slides, and there were no serious injuries. The aircraft was scrapped.
  15 November 2007 – an A340-600 was damaged beyond repair during ground testing at Airbus' facilities at Toulouse Blagnac International Airport. During a pre-delivery engine test, multiple safety checks had been disabled, leading to the non-chocked aircraft accelerating to 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph) and colliding with a concrete blast deflection wall. The right wing, tail, and left engines made contact with the ground or wall, leaving the forward section elevated several metres and the cockpit broken off; nine people on board were injured, four of them seriously. The aircraft was written off and was later used at Virgin Atlantic's cabin crew training facility in Crawley, England. It had been due to be delivered to Etihad Airways.
  20 March 2009 – Emirates Flight 407 was an Emirates flight flying from Melbourne to Dubai-International using an A340-500. The flight failed to take off properly from Melbourne Airport, hitting several structures at the end of the runway before eventually climbing enough to return to the airport for a safe landing. The occurrence was severe enough to be classified an accident by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The plane was subsequently repaired, and returned to service for five years before it was scrapped.
  11 June 2018 – A Lufthansa A340-300, registration D-AIFA, was being towed with maintenance staff on board to the departure gate at Frankfurt's terminal when the tow truck caught fire. The flames substantially damaged the aircraft front section, and 10 people on the ground received minor injuries. The damage was assessed to be beyond economical repair and the aircraft was written off.
caption: Remains of Air France Flight 358 at Toronto Pearson International Airport
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