Seating capacity of the A343 & A346

Hi people
Just wondering if there is a difference in seating capacity between the 343 and 346?
In assuming that the 346 is a bigger AC than a 343 and therefore can carry more PAX.

Yep, there is a difference in capacity of 70 pax, 343 seats 246 and 346 seats 316 in VS 3 cabin arrangement.

346: 45 UC, 38 PE & 233 in Y.
343: 34, 35, & 177.

Now, you know I'm a bit of a geek right? So a couple of months ago now I looked up the seat plans on here and counted up the seats (cos it doesn't say how many there are) and then discovered seatguru.com where it's all done for you! Hey ho...

Depends massively on airline and how the aircraft are configured. Still worried about VS A343 vs A346 for the NRT route?

On the face of it the A346 does have a larger capacity though, but the thing to be worried about with the A343s is the IFE ii)

@bretty you are hilarious lol poor you counting each seat and then discovering seatguru.com lol
But if it wasn't for otaku (Japanese for geek) then where would we be lol
@joeyc you got me lol just wondering why at Christmas and new year the NRT route has been switched to the 343s when earlier in the year it was showing 346s for the winter schedule. Yes exactly, VERA reel
Funny - I have flown to Japan at least five times in as many years and have never encountered REEL in fact didn't even know it was still in operation - it's 2013 lol
So now I encountered it on my last flight and now knowing what I know (massive big up to v-flyer) I know that I have a 1 in 4 chance of getting Vera on demand next time
Also thanks to you guys I am ready for the 343 lol if I get REEL then I will hang at the bar for a bit play games etc

A340-600 has 45J/38W/225Y
A340-300 has 34J/35W and 171Y

So seat guru might be a bit out of date?

NRT will see a mix of 343 and 346 flying over the winter depending on the day of the week.

thanks wwings
I seem to remember that it is going to be 346s on Fridays or Saturdays and 343s the rest of the time.
What I was also getting at was that I imagined that winter would be a busy time and therefore would have expected bigger loads but that is perhaps not the case
Anyways I am going to prepare my iPhone with movies and take a handheld games console

I would imagine on the NRT its all to do with Load factors. I dont know for sure but the BA Haneda service has stolen quite alot of both business travelers and EX-pat commuters due to its superior timing and ease of travel in Tokyo

[mitchja]

A/C type will also be based on cargo loads as well. Cargo can generate more income for airlines than pax do in many cases.

I would imagine on the NRT its all to do with Load factors. I dont know for sure but the BA Haneda service has stolen quite alot of both business travelers and EX-pat commuters due to its superior timing and ease of travel in Tokyo

Yes in part I agree
I'm not sure i agree about flight times though :-$ they arrive at like 6am (ISTBK) in to haneda, given that it takes only 40 odd mins to central Tokyo if you are a tourist it's way too early
But if you are a business traveller or are going home to an apt it could work.
I like the VS arrival time of around 8:30 to 9.
If BA arrive to haneda at that kind of time I could be tempted, though as we know VS are moving to haneda next year right.

I would imagine on the NRT its all to do with Load factors. I dont know for sure but the BA Haneda service has stolen quite alot of both business travelers and EX-pat commuters due to its superior timing and ease of travel in Tokyo

Yes in part I agree
I'm not sure i agree about flight times though :-$ they arrive at like 6am (ISTBK) in to haneda, given that it takes only 40 odd mins to central Tokyo if you are a tourist it's way too early
But if you are a business traveller or are going home to an apt it could work.
I like the VS arrival time of around 8:30 to 9.
If BA arrive to haneda at that kind of time I could be tempted, though as we know VS are moving to haneda next year right.

I wonder what the % is between business travelers ad tourist? And also remember that alot of the tourist are actually japanese people exploring the world, not just westerners visiting the far east

I wonder what the % is between business travelers ad tourist? And also remember that alot of the tourist are actually japanese people exploring the world, not just westerners visiting the far east

That's a good point and based on that haneda makes more sense

@bretty you are hilarious lol poor you counting each seat and then discovering seatguru.com lol
But if it wasn't for otaku (Japanese for geek) then where would we be lol
@joeyc you got me lol just wondering why at Christmas and new year the NRT route has been switched to the 343s when earlier in the year it was showing 346s for the winter schedule. Yes exactly, VERA reel
Funny - I have flown to Japan at least five times in as many years and have never encountered REEL in fact didn't even know it was still in operation - it's 2013 lol
So now I encountered it on my last flight and now knowing what I know (massive big up to v-flyer) I know that I have a 1 in 4 chance of getting Vera on demand next time
Also thanks to you guys I am ready for the 343 lol if I get REEL then I will hang at the bar for a bit play games etc

I know, I'm a saddo at times lol

A/C type will also be based on cargo loads as well. Cargo can generate more income for airlines than pax do in many cases.

Oh I hadnt even thought of that. |:)
well loads are loads and cargo is cargo so at the end of the day that will determine the A/C type for a particular route whether I like it or not lol.

I don't understand if VS want to increase market share and knowing the limitation on slot availability at LHR how reducing the seating capacity on your fleet will achieve this.i understand that the 343 is far more fuel efficient but they carry about 20% less passengers.

Did VS increase the leet when the 343 came on stream or was in 10 new aircraft in and 10 out?

@paulS - I imagine it was 10 new aircraft in and 10 old out (ISTBK obviously). However could it also simply be down to supply and demand? Could it be that NRT is just not as busy a route as say JFK, LAX, MCO etc? and because of that the "hand me down" A/C get put on the less busy/popular routes? At the end of the day VS are a business and hopefully they will respond to demand.

[honey lamb]

Did VS increase the leet when the 343 came on stream or was in 10 new aircraft in and 10 out?

I rather think they came on stream as new routes opened. The names of some of the planes reflect this as it was probably intended that they would be route-specific. Maiden Tokyo and African Queen come to mind and certainly G-VELD was the first flight I took on VS to JNB shortly after the route started in or around 1996