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Several news agencies are reporting on the demise of the A380, an aircraft loved by passengers. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors.
A slump in sales due to the airline industry moving to a point to point model make risk of empty seats on the A380 too much of a burden to make it profitable to operate.
Still the aircraft will remain in service for at least another 20 years.
https://www.designdevelopmenttoday.com/industries/aerospace/news/21047354/airbus-abandons-iconic-superjumbo-jet https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47231504
Previously: A380 Cancellations by Qantas Raise new Questions About the Superjumbo's Future
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Wednesday February 20 2019, @04:00PM (1 child)
Sorry to nit-pick, but I would not call the 747 "the best". It delivers unique capability in some specific segments and continues to remain competitive. Of all the aircraft currently in production, I would probably point to the A350 XWB introduced in 2015. I haven't flown yet but I've heard the passenger experience is better than the 787, and the A350 competes directly with the 787 in efficiency and capability. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A350_XWB [wikipedia.org]
If you want to go by volume, I suspect it would come down to the A320 or the 737. The following pages are interesting, although I'm unsure if Boeing/Airbus use comparable accounting techniques:
https://www.airbus.com/aircraft/market/orders-deliveries.html [airbus.com]
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/ [boeing.com]
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday February 21 2019, @03:21AM
I meant the best flying machine as described in this very interesting book https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Science-Flight-Insects-Jumbo/dp/0262513137 [amazon.com]
As per subjective values, I believe the Airbus is ugly. I also believe that ugly can't fly well so I am satisfied it died so fast. The last point, I don't like German engeneering that has at the core a belief that German engineer knows better how to fly an airplane than a pilot. My whole attitude is very ideological, sorry)))
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.