Air China (CA)'s last A340-300 aircraft, Registration B-2390, took off on a ferry flight (CA088) to Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport (LDE) on Friday morning.

The B-2390 aircraft took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CTU) at 8:34 a.m., according to the carrier's Southwest branch. It is not only the last A340-300 retired by the flag carrier, but also the last one of this type in mainland China.

The Beijing-based carrier ordered 100 Airbus A320 series medium-range single-aisle passenger jets in May 2013. As part of the transaction, the European aircraft manufacturer agreed to buy back six A340 series aircraft. Since December 2013, the airline had begun to retire its six A340s one by one with the replacement of A330 wide-body aircraft.

On Nov. 11, 1998, first A340-300 aircraft (Registration B-2389) was delivered to China Southwest Airlines, which was merged into Air China in October 2002. The flag carrier retired its last Airbus A34-300 aircraft after its final commercial flight from Beijing to Chengdu on July 15, 2014, ending A340 fleet's 16 years services.