Airbus announced that they will stop the production of its A380 superjumbo jet in 2021 after Dubai-based Emirates Airline cut its A380 order by 39 planes. Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said that as a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production. The company will now instead 40 A330neo and 30 A350 long-haul planes.
The decision was taken even after company reported a record profit and further announced that it would increase production following a boom in global air travel to keep up with its rival company Boeing.
Last Year Airbus made 12 A380s but American carriers never bought A380 and on the other hand carriers like Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Air France-KLM SA and Qantas Airways also reduced their orders. Apart from this Virgin Atlantic Airways, an earlier buyer of A380 also cancelled its deal before they could take the delivery of an A380. As a result, the end of the A380 isn’t a huge surprise but certainly it comes as an embarrassment for the European aerospace giant.
The world’s largest airline, Emirates will take 14 more A380s before production stops which will kept operational past 2030. With this 14 more A380s, Emirates will have about half of the total that Airbus has sold summing up to 123 planes.
Airbus also mentioned that the termination of the program could lead to job cut of 3500 over the next three years.
