The A340-600 is currently the longest civilian aircraft in the world, four meters longer than the Boeing 747-400 and over ten meters longer than the Airbus A340-300. The flight Chen Fei chose for his trip from Shanghai to London was aboard this very giant, the airliner with the longest fuselage on the market.
The United Kingdom is an island country with a typical temperate maritime climate, shrouded almost year-round in dampness. The skies are perpetually overcast, and the rain is so constant it feels like it could make a person grow mold. This explains a common image from British television and movies: an English gentleman carrying a black umbrella that could double as a walking stick. It's not about looking cool; as anyone who has actually been to the UK discovers, it's just a normal response to the environment.
