The A340, at least in its first guise, would never have had a long life. The first time I travelled on one was with SriLankan Airlines, and I was puzzled why you would use four Boeing 737 issues (CFM56s on that one) on an aircraft designed to fly long-haul. Sure, the -600 and -500 were major improvements, but at the end of the day fuel prices made them uneconomic against the 777s. With extended twin ops now the standard in most of the world (SYD-EZE and SYD-JNB excepted), Airbus's bet on the '4 engines for longhaul' mantra ultimately lost out
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