There are fewer Asian airlines ordered Airbus aircarafts compared to Boeing, and there are fewer Airbuses then Boeings. Some major Asian carriers, like Japan Airlines, use only Boeing and not Airbus.

The situation is especially poor for A340. There are no more than 40 A340 in service & 60 ordered in Asia, but there are more than 100 B777 in service & 200 ordered in Asia, even Airbus A340 is much better suited for trans-Pacific routes because of ETOPS-free quad engined design, better comfort of 8-abreast Economy Class & 6-abreast Business Class, and maximum cockpit commonality with single aisles (A320).

So some questions rise: Why the sales of Airbus is so poor in Asia? Why there are so few Asian airlines ordering / operating A340 of much better design than B777? Why there are only 2 airlines ordered A380 of very large capacity even most Asian flag carriers operate B747?

Hmm, I wonder too. If the A340 is, as you claim, "much better suited for trans-Pacific routes" and "better comfort", then WHY would airlines much rather order the 777?

Airlines order whatever suits them best. For example, Eva Air ordered the A330 over the 767 because the A330 is superior to the 767. Instead of ordering A340 along with A330 (as you would expect, since A330 and A340 have commonality), however, they went with the 777-200LR/-300ER. The fact that they went with 2 different fleet types, despite the extra costs and training, means that they thought the 777 was a better candidate than the A340, good enough to make up for the increased costs.

And please stop perpetrating the myth that 4 engines/ETOPS-free is better suited. It is extremely ignorant (just like Airbus' "4 engines 4 long haul" campaign, which has already been heaviliy criticized by engine manufactuers and industry organizations for suggesting that the 777 is not safe). Industry experts know that that is not true and it is merely an attempt to try and gain more A340 sales. Airbus itself was a supporter of ETOPS in the early '90s.

Airbus supported ETOPS since 1970's because Airbus did not produce any intercontinental aircrafts before 1983, when A310 and A300-600 were introduced. ETOPS is mainly used for non-transocean routes, so airlines can use more economical twins for such routes.

But ETOPS is not suitable for long transocean routes, especially for routes going via extreme regions like polar routes, Southern Indian Ocean routes, because this makes passengers have to land at airports without suitable medical facilities, and probably clothing for sub-zero termeratures.

So Airbus is supporting LROPS for maximum passenger safety by using a 'avoid diversion' policy. This requires the use of 4-engined aircarfts flying the extreme regions.

See Airbus FAST Issue 28, Aug 2001

http://www.airbus.com/pdf/customer/fast28/lrops.pdf

Then I will refer you to Boeing's Frontier article:
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/i_ca1.html