Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas (PU, Madrid Barajas) has retired EC-MQM (msn 399), its only remaining A340-300, moving away from the type as it focuses its operations under a homogenised A330-200 fleet.
EC-MQM was ferried from Madrid to Enschede on March 31, 2025. During an exclusive interview with ch-aviation in October 2024, chief executive Robert Roselli confirmed plans to retire the A340 fleet by April 2025, following the completion of an ACMI contract with Cubana (CU, Havana International).
The A340-300 is a 24.1-year-old aircraft owned by Fortress Ireland Leasing and managed by AerCap. It has 275 seats in a three-class configuration (224 in economy, 21 in premium economy, and 30 in business). It operated for Air France between April 2001 and March 2017, and then for Plus Ultra from June 2017.
Plus Ultra once operated, in 2019, four A340-300s, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. It also operated two A340-600s, retiring the last of these in 2021.
In a statement to ch-aviation, Plus Ultra confirmed that retiring its A340 does not mean the end of its ACMI agreement with Cubana. The carrier will now wet-lease an A330-200 for the Cuban state-owned airline to operate on its flights between Havana and Madrid.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows Plus Ultra’s fleet now comprises five A330-200s. The company expects to increase its fleet this year adding three A330s, with at least one additional airframe already under contract to be added shortly, it explained.
