I Flew on an Airbus A340!

Edelweiss Air is a Swiss leisure airline and sister company of Swiss International Air Lines, which flies a fleet of Airbus A320s and 5 Airbus A340s.
Given the ongoing retirement of 4-engined airliners around the world, I knew I needed to get a flight on an A340 somehow, and found an enticing Aeroplan redemption on Edelweiss Air right from Calgary!
Edelweiss is (arguably) Calgary's most interesting international airline, and I've been wanting to try them out for years. In July, I managed to do just that!
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FLIGHT INFORMATION
Airline: Edelweiss Air (EDW/WK)
Aircraft: Airbus A340-313 (A343)
Flight Number: WK15
Seat: 8K (Economy Max)
Livery: Standard
Engines: 4x CFM56-5C4/P
Registration: HB-JMD
Route: Calgary (YYC) - Zurich (ZRH)
Callsign: EDELWEISS 15 Juliet heavy
Runway used: 17L (YYC) - 14 (ZRH)
Date filmed: July 2023
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Outro song - "Take Flight" by Nyhtian: • Nyhtian - Take Flight ...
© Alex Praglowski Aviation 2023
This video is the property of Alex Praglowski Aviation and may not be used for any purpose without prior permission. Contact me at the email in the "About" section of my channel for usage.

[@TheColinChapman]

375 planes built, the last ones are close to their retirement, and - keep your fingers crossed - so far no fatality. The A340 could set an unbelieveable record: it could retire with zero fatalities.

[@nicolainielsen7700]

Only 6 hull losses as well (2 while carrying passengers). That is really amazing.

[@TheColinChapman]

@@nicolainielsen7700 the hull loss rate - 6 out of 375 - is even slightly above average, but not fatality is really impressive.

[@juniorsterling4040]

I flew on the A340-300 with Air Jamaica on a 10hr trip to Jamaica in 2001. It was an amazing champagne flight. The landing was so smooth I didn't feel when the wheels touched the runway

[@kadabarVIM]

KZbin sometimes recommends me videos saying "the fall of A340" and I'm like, it's not really a fall, but a smooth retirement. I miss these quad jets; I'm happy I grew up in a time when they were once popular.

[@bendybus5165]

It will be a close tie between the 717 and A340, now that the 717s are on their way out too. If anything, the 717's record may be more impressive, with no fatalities or hull losses to date as of 2024. Then again, there were 380 A340s manufactured compared to 156 717s.

[@naturallyherb]

It's a wonderful aircraft! I've been on the Cathay A340-300 between Hong Kong and Toronto with a fuel stop in Anchorage in the early 2000's. A very unique experience indeed!

[@LincolnGaming1]

Same I live in hong kong

[@TaiwaCanEat]

I flew Air China A340-300 Hong Kong to Beijing in 2004

[@chnalvr]

When I've flown on the A340 the take-off felt underwhelming and underpowered, but the aircraft did its job of getting passengers safely from point A to point B.

[@bishwatntl]

Yes, the first time I flew on an A340-300 out of Heathrow, I genuinely thought something was wrong as I'd never had such a close view of the reservoirs off the end of runway 27L. I looked around the cabin and saw that no-one was reacting to it. We then had a long, slow view of the Thames Valley as the plane crawled up above the clouds. I'm told the later -500 and -600 were better as they replaced the hairdryers with proper engines.

[@Hauketal]

Airliners have to be able to still take off with one engine inoperable. So a twinjet needs 200% capability on the remaining engine, while a quadjet just needs 133% for each of the 3 remaining ones.

[@redline455]

​@@HauketalI would hate to be on the takeoff roll after V1 and have an engine fail on the 340-200/300....all the engines combined produce less thrust than a single GE90-115B on a 777-300ER....The good thing about those CFMs on the 340 is they are bulletproof.....you can push the ever living crap out of them and they take it in stride. Kind of like the PT6 of the jet world. The engines are like:Hold my beer, its way above my pay-grade, but we'll get this thing in the air if it's the last thing we do. The captain is like: well if you don't, it will be the last thing ANY of us do.....

[@javiercaselli]

@@bishwatntl The 500-600 series mounted the RR Trent 500 which all but doubled the thrust of the CFM-56s of the 200-300. The 600 series was the longest airliner ever built back in its day, quite a bit heavier than the 300 too, so it really needed the extra punch, it was an outstanding plane for High&Hot destinations like Quito, those Trent engines did deliver the goods even in the most trying environments.

[@l.n963]

@@redline455not quite true, the cfm56-5c4 has 151kN so x 4 is 604kN, ab bit more than the 512kN of the GE90. still underwhelming

[@Enigma2387]

The footage over Europe, including the Wizz Air flight, was fantastic. Edelweiss seems to offer a great product and the 2-4-2 economy layout via the A340 certainly doesn’t hurt! Unfortunately, a dying breed in terms of both aircraft and layout.

[@NicolaW72]

Indeed.

[@deltafox757]

2-4-2 is soooo underrated that’s why I love A340 and A330

[@dhlehrenlos]

@@deltafox757JAL 787’s also have a great service and 2-4-2 configuration if you ever want to fly to Japan!

[@kingmalric6571]

Seems like the only 2-4-2 economy layouts you'll find nowadays are on the A330, A340, 767 and the upper deck on the A380. Not sure about the upper deck of the 747, most airlines save that for First/Business. Aside from the A330 all of those aircraft are out of production (cargo variants notwithstanding) and will be even harder to fly on as the years go by

[@dhlehrenlos]

@@kingmalric6571 well the A330neo is still being produced. Cabin width is a the problem with those planes, 2-4-2 is nice but if the seat are still only 17 inches wide I much prefer the JAL 787 with 19!

[@XLRSAv]

Alex, THATS the reason why Calgary has the longest runway in Canada, for the A340’s ridiculous t/o roll

[@NicolaW72]

Probably!😅

[@craigryan3069]

Only the 343, NOT the 346

[@XLRSAv]

@@craigryan3069 True

[@A_MinecraftMovie]

The A340 is a beautiful aircraft

[@cathybonner7888]

I've not flown in 40yrs and enjoy watching lots of aircraft videos on YT. Haven’t heard of the A340 but it looked a good flight with views over our capital city London. Thank you

[@K4Ediamond]

I’ve managed to catch flights on 2 A340s, one of them was Edelweiss like this one, but on the Denver to Zurich route (I ended up with HB-JMF). A few months before that I flew a Lufthansa one from Frankfurt to Denver (D-AIGU). Both of these aircraft are very special to me as they’ll probably be the only A340s I’ll ever fly before they’re retired. Glad you managed to catch a flight with one.

[@_joapa]

Some of the best flights I ever had was on an A340 from HKG to DXB with CX. There's just something awe inspiring about this aircraft.

[@CharlesLambert137]

I just realized that quadjets look old school to me, lol! I'm a Boeing fanboy - nothing more pretty than a B757 - but one must respect the excellent Airbus aircraft. Great video as always - thank you!

[@houseclearance7509]

Love the 757. Sleek, stylish.

[@amtrakharry]

That was totally amazing Alex !!! The plane, seating, food, and scenery... Thank you for sharing it with us...:):):)

[@Mis-fe9fc]

I was on a A340-300 operated from CDG to Cairo on Joon during the two years that airline existed 😂. Unreal experience, and a very special memory that I keep close to my heart!

[@NicolaW72]

I can imagine that.

[@adhameletr129]

I made this trip a few times (CAI-CDG-CAI). Apart from the infamous Joon concept, the aircraft was my favourite. I flew it a lot with Malaysian doing CAI-KUL and KUL-ICN as well.

[@PJD_55]

I’m very familiar with Edelweiss and used to fly a lot on their A330’s. They operate to very high standards and it was always a pleasure to fly with them.

[@komeshgeo]

Ah, the 149 CHF "tall person tax". Some airlines are completely ridiculous with their "economy plus" pricing. I'm lucky to have a frequent flyer status, and for me the biggest perk is not the lounge, not the priority service at airports, it's the free emergency row seats.

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Thanks!

[@ari_29971]

I absolutely love Edelweiss thanks for Flying with them, Awesome review

[@magnustan841]

Never got a chance to fly an A340. I'm trying to plan a trip next December to fly Lufthansa's A340-600. That is my favourite-looking jet aircraft and I really want to fly on it before they get replaced with A350s from 2024/2025 onwards. Maybe that's something for you to try, Alex. Also, shout out to that A343 thrust reverser operation 😍 (17:46)

[@konstantinzarkovic7567]

I've flown on an Edelweiss a340 last summer and loved the gentle takeoff

[@GreyBearcub]

The A340 is actually a comfortable aeroplane to fly in, even in the tight economy layout (I'm 1.73 m, around 5"8.1' tall, I don't need that much leg room hehe).Thanks for the video, the views were amazing! Especially when flying next to the other aeroplane. Safe flying, mate!

[@idxluaviation]

Woah! An Edelweiss trip report! Thats awesome, I've always had lots of questions about Edelweiss and I am going to fly them in the future. Another awesome video alex!

[@SimonMullie]

Don't you love the sound of those CFM56-5C4 engines? Beautiful. It's sad Edelweiss will eventually decommission this special part of Airbus' history. Always love the videos though!

[@Warmachine_23]

This has made me even more excited to cross off the A340 next year. Thanks for the video

[@flyinghighoverthesky]

Managed to fly on LH from Frankfurt and YVR a few times on 340-300 and 600. As well as Swiss 340 from Boston and Zurich. Happy to have had the experience as four engined aircraft are becoming rare jets. A340-600 on Lufthansa has the bathrooms below the main deck.

[@larrybxl5406]

I flew on an Edelweiss A340 Zurich to YVR in Aug 2023. Was a great flight and excellent service. My ticket was a code-share with Swiss

[@LukasZhang]

Man I just love these videos! Thanks for providing us these amazing videos keep up the good work👍

[@kham6257]

My fear of flying has held me back for so many years from traveling and your videos have made flying seem fun and relaxing and has helped me tremendously. So thanks for the videos

[@spider23000]

Love this! A fantastic video of my favourite aircraft. I used to travel to Sri Lanka from Heathrow between 2000 and 2003, and used SriLankan (actually initially it was still AirLanka) usually on their A340s, often via the Maldives on the way out. I miss them. The A330s just aren't the same.

[@flightsimxch4162]

it's nice to see that you enjoyed flying with an airline of my home country🙏

[@simobonev4511]

The quality of your video, sound and directing is exquisite. Well done! Pleasure to watch

[@acfbrown1]

Nice. I've flown the SWISS A340-300 between Zurich and Shanghai return in First/Business a few years ago. I've only flown Edelweiss short haul between Zurich and Edinburgh.

[@User-Andr0iDsG009LES]

There is only one word that is to say for this _Edelweiss Air_ . *EXCELLENCE* . 👍👍

[@Tseeve1]

The a340 is one of my bucket list planes. Awesome video! It would be awsome if you could make a video flying into Bozeman (KBZN) and do a flight review and some plane spotting.

[@PapaVanTwee5]

If I could do ORD-FRA, I could fly the A340 as a bucket list plane, and then fly a 747 back (I flew one on KLM once, but it would be cool to do again before they are gone.

[@domisusplayz4731]

I thank you so much for this report, I will be flying the edelweiss A340-300 here at summer time from Denver to Zurich!

[@ethancampbell6076]

6:29 Those CFM56’s on A340 seems better days and sounded amazing on T/O

[@volkan73]

Your videos are truly amazing…it’s like we’re right there with you. Thank you !!!

[@gamerx3game726]

Nice video, Zurich is my home airport and it is interesting to see the Edelweiss A340 from the other side👍

[@ricey6667]

Fantastic filming as always Alex!!

[@bionicleman1231]

I flew an A340-300 on Scandinavian SFO-CPH and back when I studied abroad in Russia in 2019. They've since been retired, happy I got the chance to fly on it

[@NicolaW72]

That was indeed a Flight worth to do it and to share it in this beautiful Video with us! Thank you very much!😃👍

[@bryanswain8720]

I got to fly on a Swiss A340 from Zurich to London in 2021. It was quite a surprise to see the type on that route and made my canceled Basel to LHR flight not sting so bad as I did not think I would ever have the opportunity to fly on an A340.

[@Hahlen]

I flew a Swiss A340 from Zurich to San Francisco 10 years ago. It was a very strange flight, as I remember there were only something like 50 people on it. Almost everyone in economy got a whole row of 4 in the middle of the plane to stretch out and sleep on.

[@sushi777300]

It's been quite a while since I had my last 343 flight. Really love that plane for both visuals and pax comfort. My 343 flights were LH FRA-CAI, TP LIS-MIA-LIS, LH FRA-KUL and hope to get one again before they're retired

[@Bizija123]

Just flew on one from Zurich-Tampa in economy max. Cost me $150 extra but it was the best transatlantic flights I've ever had. So much room and extra empty seats to lay down and sleep on, lol. Truly a cruise ship in the sky. The edelweiss attendants were fantastic (and good looking ladies!)

[@bernhardwieser9433]

Great Video Alex! I can remember that also airberlin and Condor offered Upgrades while the plane was boarded already.

[@oldFltAttndnt]

Really great video !! It really shows what a pathetic in-flight service we are "treated" to on WestJet.

[@kingmalric6571]

WestJet has evolved into a low-cost carrier with mainline carrier prices. The Dreamliner is a very cool aircraft but with the 3-3-3 layout WestJet uses (as do most other airlines) it's not exactly passenger friendly

[@peterfinn6098]

I flew with Edelweiss in business class to Bogota recently and the service was impeccable. The A340 is very reliable and lovely to fly compared with the 787, especially with the economy layout

[@fleodo2038]

Edelweiss is Lovely Airline ! I had a great experience between Zurich and Montréal, even if it was a flight operated for Swiss ! Indeed the pitch in Classic economy is pretty bad, and I am not tall at all ! I was surprised to have a modern cabin on this old aircraft. On the same line, flight are usually operated by Swiss 330 and beside being younger the cabin is older !

[@thenrfor1]

A340 Is My Favourite Plane! I'm in Calgary too, so I wish I could have saw one.

[@atche8004]

this is one of my dream planes to fly on and my absolute favorite plane made by airbus, excited to watch!

[@michael_viteritti]

Beautiful video and commentary! Love Edelweiss :D

[@Matityahu755]

Great joining you on this flight. Those seats you got looked really comfortable. I flew on the A340 back in 93/94 with Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class (I was upgraded) and I remember that the flight was long, but the aircraft was brand spanking new. I think I was travelling back to San Francisco.

[@no-damn-alias]

The landing was interesting 1:58 with the thrust reversers deployed very early

[@rileytat123]

surinam airways has an A340-300 PZ-TCW which flies from PBM to Amsterdam

[@nvire5202]

Crazy to think that there are 4 A320 engines on it😅 Good vid!

[@craigryan3069]

Flown quite a few A340 over the years, with Qatar, TAP, Austrian, Edelweiss, Lufthansa, Swiss, Iberia etc. My favourite widebody. I don't fly anything Boing built since the McD takeover.

[@AboveSomething]

funny coincidence: this exact plane (HB-JMD) was featured in a very cool and interesting video documentation in the cockpit on a flight from Zurich to Shanghai where it encountered an engine malfunction on ENG 3 and had to fuel dump and return to ZRH.. good to see her again!

[@grantmitton6346]

Another excellent video Alex,...Thank You.

[@Doctor_mint_has_a_cat]

From beautiful Canadian travels to all over the world amazing content!!❤❤

[@shaunlaverty8898]

I’ve flown on Air Canada’s A340 a few times 😊between Toronto and Montreal in the 90’s. This was just before they entered long haul service and they were shaking them down. A lot of aircraft for a short route, and almost no one on board.

[@ucube33]

I flew their HB-JME A340-300 from Vancouver BC to Zürich a few years ago. It was a great experience, and I received an upgrade when checking in my luggage to Economy Max free of charge, which was great.

[@chari6471]

Amazing video, thank you! Incredible views too! This really highlights everything I love about flying. Will have to give this airline a go for their A340s - love that wing view ❤

[@MrShishi]

Blows my mind how wings can hold the Engines/Fuel/Fuselage weight/ Bend, and still not break while under intense speed and pressure. I am a nervous flyer because I have watched every Mayday episode lol

[@meltingtomato]

I'm so curious what the connecting itinerary will be. Great video Alex!

[@Jimmy-Mc]

I flew on a Lufthansa A340 about 10 years ago and enjoyed it. The 2-4-2 makes the cabin feel roomy, even when I was in the middle aisle seat.

[@kallemueller3194]

I really appreciate your videos and just subscribed to your channel. Keep up the good work, I think you are very fair towards airlines and their employees. This is a very positive compared to some other youtubers whose sense of entitlement is just ridiculous.

[@threeparots1]

Back in 05 I got to fly on a Philippines Airway A340 from YVR to Las Vegas. This flight was quite light with maybe 80 people on it, however it was quiet took off quickly in this case and despite the 2 hour flight time they did have a meal and the service was quite good. That being said we did use a fair amount of runway trying to get on the ground in Vegas and while we were in Vegas the Air France crash in Toronto happened with an A340 overrunning the landing.

[@erik_griswold]

Fantastic that you got to fly on that unique “5th Freedom” flight. I don’t think it exists anymore.

[@threeparots1]

@@erik_griswold indeed. No flight there from YVR at least. I looks like Las Vegas is in there, but it may be seasonal. Flights in and out of Vegas are kinda strange. I do recall the departure out of Vegas headed south towards California between the mountains and much high than the mountains until I suspect they couldn’t see Area 51, then they headed back north. Same thing coming from YYC except from the east down past Las Vegas then in from the south. Can see the solar reflector power generators on the way in.

[@WillAviation]

Did the Edelweiss A340 Zurich to Montreal this past summer in the same seat! Such a fun plane

[@akidshistoryandaviation]

Always wanted to see a review of this interesting flight. If I’m correct it’s the only airlines that flies from Switzerland to las Vegas. Great video!

[@TheRogerWyatt]

What a wonderful video....even flew over my home town of Birmingham....Loved flying on the Air Canada 340's way back when...although for the most part in business class I did once though have the opportunity to fly in the jump seat from Vancouver to Toronto...It was a beautiful aircraft to fly on ...roomy and smooth.....always checked for the 340 in booking flights...too bad they were short lived in the great white north

[@nejlak741]

The A340 is my favorite plane, it’s underrated among the other giants. The flying pencil ✈️

[@Thomas-matchbox.]

You should go to Anchorage Alaska head off to knowNome Alaska

[@janellek21]

I've taken many flights in my life, but never on an A340. Edelweiss looks like they've got an excellent product for a LCC leisure carrier!

[@Ben-go1iq]

It might be worth pointing out, they are anything but LCC, the tickets on ZRH-YYC often sell for 1200+usd round trip in economy and their service matches that

[@wakeupcall2665]

Edelweiss is NOT a LCC. It is a full service carrier focused on leisure routes mainly (Caribbean, Maldives, South America, US Florida, Southern Africa, Kenia, Tanzania as part of their long haul route network, and typical tourist destination around the Mediterranean and Canary Islands and Hurghada, RMF and SSH. Often in Codeshare with LX flight suffix.

[@vladyslavvasin8077]

See the a343 and a346 everyday in Frankfurt. Definitely the most gorgeous aircraft. Hopefully i´ll be able to catch a flight next year with LH/Swiss/Edelweiss before their retirement

[@yiliangliang5694]

1:23 Edelweiss is a subsidiary (correction: a sister airline) of SWISS which is itself a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. In my experience, Lufthansa Group airlines usually always share one set of check-in counters.

[@PapaVanTwee5]

And Lufthansa has what I think is the coolest two planes you can fly in one route. You can fly ORD-FRA on an A340 one way, and a 747 back. How cool is that?

[@AlexPraglowskiAviation]

Neither Swiss or Lufthansa actually fly to Calgary themselves, that's why it was noteworthy for me.

[@NicolaW72]

No, Edelweiss is a Sister Airline of Swiss, not a subsidiary. Both are directly part of the Lufthansa Group. While Swiss is a Legacy Carrier Edelweiss is a Leisure Carrier - two different Business Models.

[@yiliangliang5694]

​​@@NicolaW72I see, thanks for the correction!

[@thetwopointslow]

Definitely one of the most original and beautiful liveries out there!

[@karlossargeant3872]

Awesome Video Alex Praglowski nuff respect to all your Videos on Aviation and Travel keep going and Dream Big on Aviation Man 💯

[@NewG101]

Yep! I've loved to fly on this aircraft, especially the cabin seats config (2-4-2) which are more comfy than nowadays common 3-3-3 in almost all aircrafts. Thanks for the vid 👍😍

[@TheMaartian]

Lovely flight! How nice to have clear skies when landing in Zurich. On one of my flights from Chicago to Zurich, we were on final, descending through the clouds when we hit something. Freaked me out. It turned out that what we hit was the runway. I have no idea what the visibility was for the pilots. I was in First Class at the front of the bus, but I never saw the ground until the nose gear made contact, so it couldn't have been much. Still, it was a bit of a shock.

[@ChristopherDiGiovanni-o3j]

I never flew in an Airbus A340, but I hope one day I will fly before the existence is gone.

[@williamchan3372]

Excellent pictures of London! You have a great camera!

[@thisisyourcaptainspeaking]

Great to see your channel starting to take-off. Great post!

[@YourAverageAvgeek16]

I can’t imagine how happy some of the flight attendants would be that only like half of the flight was full

[@ckhound1]

In my opinion, one of the best aircraft ever!

[@JelmersAviation]

What an incredible video man! Love the A340! Liked!

[@welshtransportguy]

I love this video and is now my favourite and since I’m British I love how you included Birmingham, EGLL and EGLC. A solid 10/10

[@IranAir330]

flew on this beauty a couple weeks ago! Lufthansa A340-300 D-AIGN from Tehran Imam Khomeini INTL (IKA/OIIE) to Frankfurt INTL (FRA/EDDF), beautiful Star Alliance Livery and a nice ride, absolute beauty!

[@johndornoff]

Got a chance to fly a A340 for the first time at the end of March when I flew Lufthansa on their A340-600 from Boston to Munich. Would love to fly the plane you flew since my initials are JMD.

[@tobyspotting4161]

Once again another lovely video! The A340 has to be my favourite aircraft :D I actually have that aircraft model :)

[@charlesmoss8119]

Excellent video thank you! I wonder if anyone still flies the 600 - that was sooo elegant when operating with virgin into Heathrow - it looked brilliant! It’s also interesting that between Edelweiss and Condor you can explore some less travelled parts of North America

[@jacksparow421]

I just came back with this beat. Amazing crew!

[@aimbotefly222]

11h flight like that on an a340 must be such an amazing experience

[@erik_griswold]

12:50 The map also uses the old Danish name for Nuuk, Greenland. Q of Greenland would not be amused.

[@NicolaW72]

Yes, I recognised it, too.

[@deltafox757]

Dammit, you always get the BEST engine roars xD

[@rogerwalnut]

What a great trip! Thanks for sharing it with us.

[@LSZH_aviation]

Unfortunately not the HB.JME (Its my favourite) but Mike Delta also nice 🤪

[@Cony989]

you never really flew on an A340 if it didnt have the downstairs toilets😄

[@basvanderhoek9293]

Thanks Alex, we always get spoiled but especially with this one. From what I could see, everything you touched and showed looked clean, VERY clean actually, was it? It wouldn`t surprise me. I had the pleasure to fly from YVR to Vegas several times with Philippines A340, I specially took that flight. It was also great as far as time was concerned, plus it landed at the International terminal. the 2-4-2 is great and they had a lot of legroom, I was 186 cm, and shrinking a bit now. Air Transat had one of their A300`s equipped with a 3-3-3 layout, sheer torture. Anyway, even on the outside the plane looked very clean, one will never mistake it with an Air France 777 parked at YVR. Greetings from a coolish YVR , this made my day.

[@punjabicartoonkids]

A340 IS SO RARE! What do you think?

[@rupertbare2023]

How I envy you your flight on my all-time favourite aircraft: A340! What a beauty, and how much more comfortable than my recent YVR-LHR Air Canada flight jammed into the dreaded 777ER without any spare seats! (And where I caught swine flu and had to be hospitalised 3 days after arrival). Never again. Maybe I should try Edelweiss for my next TA? Are they flying the A340 to/from YVR, I wonder?

[@tigersharkzh]

The cabin layout is because they originally had a first-class when it was flying for Swiss. the business and economy cabins are as they were for Swiss.