A343 or A346 faster?

The trainer spotter is comign out in me!

Now the VS 7/8 is an A340-600 the only real difference between the VS23/24 is if the A340-600 is faster than the A340-300.

The B744 was around an hour faster.

Anyone done the VS7 or 8 and timed it!

[preiffer]

The 346 is definitely faster than the 343. The 343 was always known for being woefully underpowered.

Whether that actually translates into a time-saving (as the slot times may not actually change), or whether they just save fuel by flying the 346 a little slower though, is up to VS I guess...

Given my earlier post on ife systems (see Jinxed)

Other diff of course is that the 346 has V:port vs 343 which has Odyssey - might make you wish it was slower!

[Scrooge]

well they both have the same top speed if thats what you are looking for mach.86

if you go here

http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamili ... ctcompare/

you can punch in the aircrraft you want to compare

manymiles, I doubt that the B744 was an hour faster - that may have just been due to bad traffic/weather that day.

Cheers,
VS045

Hi,

The quoted M.86 is the Maximum cruise speed for the A340-600/500 this is very different from the airline friendly econ cruise speed that is calculated by the Flight Management system aboard the aircraft and differs slightly on each flight due to loads etc.

The typical econ speed for the Airbus is around M.81/82, while the B744 econ cruises at a brisk M.84/5 This can easily result in an hours difference over the airbus on a ten hour flight.

The aircraft could fly at the same speed as the B744 but would not achieve the same fuel economy so in the current climate the airlines will not be interested in getting anyone anywhere faster!

Next time you fly the Atlantic see how many B767's you pass! They are even slower with a M.80 typical cruise.

Hope this helps.

Neil.

The 343s are mainly slower on rotations, they require more runway than the 346s and 744s.

[Scrooge]

Sorry,I thought the question was,which plane is quicker,the 343 or the 346.Im not going to get into the whole planes max speed subject,if you do a search you should find a thread where a few of us get into the mach number in a very big way.

Cool and interesting thread, has anyone looked at the schedules and noticed any change since the xover from 343 to 346?

Virgin Lover - I understand your point, the 744 always had an average faster cruising speed but I believe the 380 is supposed to be closer?

[Scrooge]

What you are talking about is the most efficent cruising speed,not top speed.If you want top speed go grab a 747SP.

Now if the 744 was over an hour quicker on VS than the 346 this was for one reason,something messed up that caused it to leave LHR late and due to head winds they couldn't make up the time.

The flight times are not governed by the aircrafts top speed,they are governed by the take off and landing slots allocated by the various airports.

Now depending on what the jet stream is doing it can throw the schedule all to pieces.On my last LAX-LHR run the in coming aircraft was over an hour late landing (744)while we were waiting to baord I saw VS 7 land at 3.45pmish so 30 mins late.

Even though we took of late we still landed on time at LHR,the winds that slowed the flight out made up the time on the way back.

Ok for VS 7 your looking at a flight time of about 11 hrs 30 mins VS 8 around 10 hrs 30 mins..for VS 23 you are looking at 11hrs 50 mins and VS 24 10 hrs 25 mins..thats off the VS website.

Ok now airline build in a cushion (though not in UC,they took those out to save a penny) against things happening,in truth VS 7 is around 10 hrs 45 door to door and VS 8 around 9 hrs 30 mins.

hope this helps..im going to bed

Originally posted by jetwet1
What you are talking about is the most efficent cruising speed,not top speed.If you want top speed go grab a 747SP.

Or Concorde:D

Phil

I remember talking to a VS pilot on a 744 once and he told me that the 744 takes an hour less than an A343.

I'd imagine the A346 is quicker than an A343 though, as it has upgraded engines.

The A343 normal cruise speed is slower than the B744, I do not recall the exact differnce.

This causes issues out of Hong Kong if the VS or CX A340s get away earlier than the BA or CX B744s. There are 3 or 4 flights all around midnight and if the A343s get away first the B744s have to slow down and wait for the fuel loads to decrease enough to get past.

On the question of the difference in normal cruise speed between the A343 or A346 the difference is more likley to be driven by the design of the wing rather than the engine power.

We plan our transatlantic/long haul flights on A330's at M81. This is a good comprimise between fuel cost etc. Occationally, we have to send aircraft at M84 if there's an issue with crewing hours. M84 is about the limit but it also depends on the weight of the ship. Not long ago one of our crew was running out of hours leaving the US and we looked to plan the flight at M84. It added 4000kg fuel but only knocked off 2mins of flying time!!

You also have to realize that the 346 is longer and heavier than the 343, so some of the extra engine power compensates for that.

Originally posted by VS-EWR
The 343s are mainly slower on rotations, they require more runway than the 346s and 744s.

There was a standing joke that 343s only take off because of the earth's curvature.

There was a standing joke that 343s only take off because of the earth's curvature.

Taking off in an A343 from JNB, one can certainly believe that!;)

Cheers,
VS045

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by pegitt

Originally posted by jetwet1
What you are talking about is the most efficent cruising speed,not top speed.If you want top speed go grab a 747SP.

Or Concorde:D

Phil

Is the bendy nose one still in commerical service?..If you wish to split hairs then the TU-144 was the quickest

Originally posted by jetwet1

Originally posted by pegitt

Originally posted by jetwet1
What you are talking about is the most efficent cruising speed,not top speed.If you want top speed go grab a 747SP.

Or Concorde:D

Phil

Is the bnedy nose one still in commerical service?..If you wish to split hairs then the TU-144 was the quickest

Dam you got me on that one[:I]:D

Phil

I'm told VS regular cruise speed for 343 is around M.82 and 744 is M.85 and, on a 12 hr flight the 744 is getting on for 35-40 mins quicker...

Queen of the Skies!

Regards

John

The 744 as stated usually cruises at .85, the 343 .81/82 and the 346 .82/.83

A typical flight time from LHR to LAX is 10:10 on the 744, 10:40 on the 343 and a figure in-between those for the 346.