Over the past few decades, airlines have shifted toward twin-engine aircraft to reduce fuel burn and operating costs. Earlier generations saw fleets dominated by three- and four-engine widebodies , but most have now been phased out. Only a handful of quadjets and trijets remain in service today, such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 747, and McDonnell Douglas MD-11, as well as the Airbus A340 . The latter was European planemaker’s first four-engine aircraft, and was developed in parallel with the A330 twinjet to succeed the A300, the world’s first widebody twinjet.

When it entered service in 1993, its four-engine redundancy was still considered an advantage, and the operating economics of the time made it viable. However, the market dynamics have shifted in recent decades. Only a handfu

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