The A340 had been built upon developments made in the production of earlier Airbus aircraft and as such shares many features with those aircraft, such as a common cockpit design with the Airbus A320 and A330; as the aircraft was developed at the same time as the A330, the two aircraft employ many similar components and sections, such as identical fly-by-wire control systems and similar wings.
O A340 fabricouse sobre desenvolvementos realizados na produción dos primeiros avións de Airbus e ao compartir moitas das características deses aparellos, como un deseño de cabina de mando común co Airbus A320 e A330; xa que o modelo foi desenvolvido ao mesmo tempo que o A330, os dous avións empregan moitos compoñentes e seccións semellantes, como os controis fly-by-wire e as ás.