I want to have some view on Airbus A340 and Boeing 777, ETOPS and LROPS after reading Boeing Frontier article on B777 vs A340 and Airbus FAST 28 LROPS article.

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

http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/i_ca1.html

ETOPS is very good for flights not going via extreme areas, like the poles, the Himalayas. But ETOPS has a very great disadvantage - has to land within the diversion time (no more than 207 minutes) even the airport is situated in very cold polar areas without medical assists and clothing for sub-zero temperatures! If a B777 is flying via North Pole, then it has to land at Yakutsk of -60 degree Celsius in winter in case of emergency! This also makes the twins cannot fly over the distant oceans with ETOPS no-go areas, like South Indian Ocean, and makes twins like B777 have to go via India when flying from Johnnasberg, South Africa to Sydney, Australia, greatly increasing flight time (20 hours for B777 vs 10 hours for A340). That's why South African Airways choose A340 instead of B777!!

So Airbus is introducing LROPS, to make sure aircarfts can land to airports not located in extreme areas having suitable medical assistance and other necessarities for passenger influx. This makes the diversion time more than 3 hours in some areas, like the poles, thus requiring the use of 4-engined aircrafts.

Boeing stated that 2-engined B777 is more reliable than 4-engined A340. But this only applies for takeoff. A twin engined aircraft with an engine failed in flight must have the remaining engine delivering 200% of maximum normal thrust, so making the remaining working engine more liable to fail. On the contrary, the remaining 3 working engines on quads like A340 just have to deliver 133% of maximum normal thrust when an engine is failed, so much less liable to fail. In fact an A340-200/-300 without LROPS rating has diversion time of 4.5 hours, much longer than B777!

Boeing also stated that B777 has lower turnback and diversion rate, but the rate includes those without mechanical faults (90% of all turnbacks and
diversions), like sudden medical emergencies. The non-mechanical diversion and turnback rate is proportional to trip length, and A340 has average trip length of 10 hours per flight compared to 3 hours for B777, so A340 has higher non-mechanical fault diversion and turnback rate.

But the mechanical turnback and diversion rate for A340 is just 1/3 that of B777, because of reason stated above.

Boeing stated that B777-300ER has 18% lower operating costs than A340-600. But this figure only applies for shortest great circle routes suitable for both B777 and A340, like Hong Kong - London. If the great circle route goes via ETOPS no-go areas, like Johnnsaberg, South Africa to Sydney, Australia, via Southern Indian Ocean, then A340-600 is much less costly to run because B777 has to use much longer route without ETOPS no-go zone en-route, like going via India for the case, while A340 can always fly the shortest great circle route.

Boeing also stated it is easier to sell seats when B777 is used for the route. But this does not apply for Business Class, because the cabin of B777 is so wide that 7 normal long haul Business class seats have to installed per row for economy, thus making some passengers suffering middle seats. On the contrary, A330/A340 has narrower cabin so only 6 long haul Business class seats can be installed per row, thus nobody has to suffer middle seats. In fact this makes many airlines, like Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, refused to introduce B777 and use A330/A340 instead, even their routes are suitable for both B777 and A330/A340, and thye once ordered B777. If Air Canada operates B777, then it has no choice but install 7 seats per row in Business class, thus opposing its Business Class no middle seat guarantee (B747 has narrower upper deck and front cabin so no middle seats can be installed.)

One fact for ETOPS is the 207-minutes ETOPS is just approved by FAA to the airlines case-by-case, and there is no formal standard to govern. This means the 207-minutes ETOPS 27-minutes longer than 180-minutes ETOPS, near to 30-minutes per grade. This is longer than 18-minutes difference 120-minutes ETOPS and 138-minutes ETOPS. So safety is not ensured.