http://www.airbus.com/airbus4u/articles_detail.asp?ae_id=84

It said Airbus A340 has quad engined design, so airlines can always use the most direct route between the 2 destinations, rather than indirect route with no ETOPS no-go zone en route used by twinjets like B777. It also said A340 has much lower diversion rate, about 2-3 times better than the competitor (B777), thus greatly reducing chances for delay and hence much lower cost, as well as unexpected stopovers.

Not only this, A340 has dispatch reliablity of 98.5% from Jan 2002 to Jun 2002, better than the competitor (B777), despite of long daily utilization of 13 hours per day (only 7 hours per day for a typical jet in network carriers).

So it is concluded that Airbus A340 is the best long range aircarft choice.