Airbus to stop making A380 double-decker aircrafts

American Aeronautic and Space Company Airbus will stop making the QA380. With the new decision, the company will be pulling the plug from the iconic super jumbo jet that had once promised to revolutionized the commercial air travel but had failed to deliver on the outsized expectations. The plane manufacturer, on February 14, 2019 said that it will stop delivering the A380s in the 2021 after its key customer , Emirates, which is a Dubai based airlines slashed its orders.

Tom Enders, the Airbus CEO said, “It’s a painful decision”. The CEO was talking at the conference call with analysts and added, “We’ve invested a lot of effort, a lot of resources and a lot of sweat into this aircraft.But obviously we need to be realistic”. Enders also informed that with the decision of Emirates to reduce the orders, their order backlog is not sufficient to sustain the production. The fresh decision at Airbus can hit as many as 3,500 jobs at the manufacturer, whose operations span four major European countries in the next three years.

The A380 aircraft was made at a cost of $25 billion and had taken its first flight 14 years back. The company had then predicted that the airlines would need a plane that can carry up to 853 passengers between the major airport hubs, but it did not work out. Airbus has till date delivered 234 of the A380 aircrafts which is less than a quarter of the 1,200 that it had predicted to sell when it was first introduced the double-decker aircraft.

The plans were undermined by the airlines shifting their interests to lighter and more fuel efficient passenger jets that have reduced the need to take the passengers between the big hubs. Enders in a statement said that passengers across the globe love to fly in this great aircraft and hence their announcement is painful for them and the A380 communities across the globe.

Photo Credits:Sky News