{"id":3764,"date":"2019-02-14T09:23:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T15:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=3764"},"modified":"2019-02-14T09:23:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T15:23:47","slug":"airbus-a380-from-european-dream-to-white-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/?p=3764","title":{"rendered":"Airbus A380: From European Dream to White Elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TOULOUSE,\n France (Reuters) – Loved by passengers, feared by accountants, the \nworld’s largest airliner has run out of runway after Airbus decided to \nclose A380 production after 12 years in service due to weak sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n decision to halt production of the A380 superjumbo is the final act in \none of Europe’s greatest industrial adventures and reflects a dearth of \norders by airline bosses unwilling to back Airbus’s vision of huge jets \nto combat airport congestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air\n traffic is growing at a near-record pace but this has mainly generated \ndemand for twin-engined jets nimble enough to fly directly to where \npeople want to travel, rather than bulky four-engined jets forcing \npassengers to change at hub airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\n while loyal supporters like top customer Emirates say the popular \n544-seat jet makes money when full, each unsold seat potentially burns a\n hole in airline finances because of the fuel needed to keep the huge \ndouble-decker structure aloft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s\n an aircraft that frightens airline CFOs; the risk of failing to sell so\n many seats is just too high,” said a senior aerospace industry source \nfamiliar with the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once\n hailed as the industrial counterpart to Europe’s single currency, the \ndemise of a globally recognized European symbol coincides with growing \npolitical strains between Britain, France, Germany and Spain where the \nplane is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s\n in stark contrast to the display of European unity and optimism when \nthe engineering behemoth was unveiled in front of European leaders under\n a spectacular light show in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

British\n Prime Minister Tony Blair called the A380 a “symbol of economic \nstrength” while Spanish premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called the \nrollout “the realization of a dream”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passengers\n marveled at the European giant with room for 70 cars on its wings, \nlooking rather like the hump-backed Boeing 747 but with the top section \nstretching all the way to the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airlines had initially rushed to place orders, expecting it to lower operating costs and boost profits as the industry crawled out of a slowdown in tourism since September 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Airbus boasted it would sell 700-750 A380s, which nowadays cost $446 million at list prices, and render the 747 obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n fact, A380 orders barely crossed the 300 threshold and the 747 has \noutlived its rival, after reaching the age of 50 this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FALL FROM GRACE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seeds of the A380’s fall from grace were already present behind the scenes of the 2005 launch party, insiders say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\n public talk of unity, the huge task was about to expose fractures in \nFranco-German co-operation that sparked an industrial meltdown. When the\n delayed jet finally reached the market in 2007, the global financial \ncrisis was starting to bite. Scale and opulence were no longer wanted. \nSales slowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\n the same time, engine makers who had promised Airbus a decade of \nunbeatable efficiencies with their new superjumbo engines were \nfine-tuning even more efficient designs for the next generation of \ndual-engined planes, competing with the A380.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\n a restless Airbus board started demanding a return and stronger prices \njust when the plane desperately needed an aggressive relaunch and fresh \ninvestment, insiders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was a triple whammy,” said a person close to the debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As demand see-sawed, so did the plane’s marketing: starting with luxuries including showers, then vaunting its green credentials with the messianic slogan ‘Saving The Planet One A380 at a Time” before joining the race to squeeze in more people and cut costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet\n despite its own deep industrial problems, Boeing was winning the \nargument with its newest jet, the 787 Dreamliner. It was designed to \nbypass hubs served by the A380 and open routes between secondary cities:\n a strategy known as “point to point”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus fought back, arguing that travel between megacities would nonetheless dominate air transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\n economic growth would splinter in ways Airbus did not predict. \nIntermediary cities are growing almost twice as fast as megacities, \naccording to a 2018 paper posted by the Organisation for Economic \nCo-Operation and Development.https:\/\/bit.ly\/2P28F3h<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a boon for twinjets like the Boeing 787 and 777 or Airbus’s own A350, which has outsold the A380 three to one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airbus\n Chief Executive Tom Enders, who was rarely seen as an enthusiastic \nbacker of the A380, toyed with ending the project about two years ago \nbut was persuaded to give it a last chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with Emirates unable to hammer out an engine deal needed to confirm its most recent A380 order, time had finally run out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Airbus\n tends to think of it as a flagship; Enders looks at it and sees a lack \nof orders,” said a person close to the German-born CEO, who steps down \nin April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some insiders worry that Airbus will lose a valuable symbol of pride and commercial audacity when production ends in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now,\n airline bosses are seeking assurances that Airbus will support the A380\n with spare parts for years to come. Many invested in the A380 as their \nflagship while airports also spent heavily on new facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some customers like Air France and Lufthansa may not shed too many tears, analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\n too invested in the A380 but may also be relieved to see a potent \nweapon removed from Gulf rivals like Emirates, whom they accuse of \nflooding the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emirates insists it plays fairly and has called the A380 a “passenger magnet,” misunderstood and badly marketed by rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its\n chairman said on Thursday he was disappointed in the A380’s demise, but\n added “we accept that this is the reality of the situation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Keith Weir)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loved by passengers, feared by accountants, the world’s largest airliner has run out of runway after Airbus decided to close A380 production after 12 years in service due to weak sales. The decision to halt production of the A380 superjumbo is the final act in one of Europe’s greatest industrial adventures and reflects a dearth of orders by airline bosses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[798,797,89,2203,1397,868,1103],"tags":[63,205,42,49,75,539,47,514,3409,41,2432,624,3404,3406,2493,99,445,3405,3080,335,1767,207,571,1662,589,2846,1843,137,3411,2029,412,3410,3228,515,1288,3412,1249,1932,3079,3408,1017,3123,3407,2755,3413],"class_list":["post-3764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airbus-news","category-airline-news","category-aviation-news","category-finance-news","category-stock-news","category-transportation-news","category-travel-news","tag-63","tag-205","tag-42","tag-a350","tag-a380","tag-air","tag-airbus","tag-airliner","tag-blair","tag-boeing","tag-britain","tag-british","tag-close","tag-decides","tag-demand","tag-dreamliner","tag-emirates","tag-end","tag-enders","tag-engine","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-industrial","tag-jet","tag-jose","tag-largest","tag-lufthansa","tag-luis","tag-minister","tag-news","tag-premier","tag-prime","tag-production","tag-reuters","tag-rodriguez","tag-sales","tag-spain","tag-tom","tag-tony","tag-toulouse","tag-twin","tag-weak","tag-world","tag-zapatero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3768,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764\/revisions\/3768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planesintheair.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}