SoylentNews

martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

A380 Cancellations by Qantas Raise new Questions About the Superjumbo's Future [cnn.com]:

Australia's Qantas (QABSY [cnn.com]) said Thursday that it had scrapped longstanding plans to buy eight more of the double-decker planes [cnn.com]

The A380 has been a major disappointment [cnn.com]for Airbus ( EADSF [cnn.com]) , racking up less than a quarter of the sales the European company forecast when it first introduced the giant jetliner more than a decade ago. The underwhelming demand has fueled questions about how long the manufacturer can justify continuing production of the iconic aircraft.

[...] Other airlines including Virgin Atlantic have ditched plans to buy the aircraft in the past year. Airbus now has only 79 firm orders for it, according to FlightGlobal data.

The program's future could hinge on Dubai-based Emirates, the largest A380 operator with more than 100 of the aircraft in service. The Gulf carrier last year ordered [cnn.com] a further 20 of the superjumbo jets, with the option to buy an additional 16 on top of that.

But Airbus said last month that it was renegotiating [airbus.com] the deal with Emirates following reports that the airline was looking to switch its orders to the smaller and newer A350.

According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], an A380 has seating for 575-853 depending on variant and configuration.

Original Submission