Airbus Is Ending The A380 Program

[Palumboism]

End of the superjumbo: Airbus is giving up on the A380

By Jethro Mullen, CNN Business

Airbus is ending the A380 program, pulling the plug on its iconic superjumbo jet that once promised to revolutionize commercial air travel but failed to deliver on outsized expectations.
The European plane maker said Thursday that it will stop delivering A380s in 2021 after its key customer, Dubai-based airline Emirates, slashed its orders for the huge jetliner.
"We have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years," Airbus CEO Tom Enders said in a company statement.

The A380, the world's largest airliner, first took to the skies 14 years ago. But Airbus' giant bet that airlines would need lots of extra-big planes to fly passengers between major airport hubs didn't pay off as the company had hoped.

The company has delivered 234 of the superjumbos to date, less than a quarter of the 1,200 it predicted it would sell when it first introduced the double-decker aircraft. Its plans were undermined by airlines shifting their interest to lighter, more fuel efficient passenger jets that have reduced the need to ferry passengers between the big hubs.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/business/a380-airbus-news-emirates/index.html

[Palumboism]

A380's landing at LAX.

[Palumboism]

Qatar Airways Will Retire the Airbus A380 In Favor of The Boeing 777X

CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, has indicated that the airline plans to retire its fleet of A380s once they reach ten years of age. When Qatar Airways retire the A380, they will look to the Boeing 777X as an effective replacement for the giant jumbo.

“For the A380s, on the 10th anniversary, we will retire them. Once we have paid our financial obligations, they will go”

No secondary market

Although a ten year old A380 is by no means at the end of its useful life, Qatar are proud to have one of the youngest fleets in the sky. This should mean that Qatar can liquidize some of their investment in the jets on the second hand market, but according to Al Baker, the demand is just not there.

We don’t see any secondary market opportunity. There are ex-Singapore Airlines A380 jets that nobody wants, and this year, there will be aircraft available to the second-hand market from Emirates”

This is a notion echoed by the industry as a whole. We’ve already seen some of the first A380s being scrapped, despite being just 12 years old or so. And the leasing market is burgeoning with second hand A380s which nobody wants to lease or buy.

https://simpleflying.com/qatar-airways-a380-retirement/

[galain]

I was pretty excited the first time i flew in an Airbus. I'd heard lots of good things. In the end, the experience was pretty much the same except I was surrounded by more poor people like myself than an average flight.

[kreator]

I liked flying with A380. It‘s a shame they are dropping it.

[Palumboism]

This was a very intelligent move by Airbus.  Ultimately it was Rolls Royce that cause the demise of this aircraft because they were unwilling to develop new engines for such a low quantity of sales.  Emirates and Rolls couldn't reach an agreement, so Emirates significantly reduced their order. 

the wide body sweet spot seems to be 300-350 seats.

[IRON CROSS]

This was a very intelligent move by Airbus.  Ultimately it was Rolls Royce that cause the demise of this aircraft because they were unwilling to develop new engines for such a low quantity of sales.  Emirates and Rolls couldn't reach an agreement, so Emirates significantly reduced their order. 

the wide body sweet spot seems to be 300-350 seats.


That's nice, but can U get us , about 10-12 free tickets from various destination for 2019 Annual GB Re-Union in Honolulu, many thanks.

(NO free ticket 4 V.B)

[tres_taco_combo]

we live in a 2 engine world - quoted Boeing CEO