Airbus officially prepares to shut down A380 Production

Days are counting down before we see Airbus stopping to produce their jumbo.

The jetliner giant admitted that their flagship aircraft program risks being shut down if Airbus fails to win a crucial order from Emirates which is the only operator with the capacity to take enough planes to keep the program alive.

The market has previously speculated Emirates, by far the biggest operator of the plane, to buy an addition of 36 jumbos. But with Emirates not stating intentions to buy the A380s and Airbus failing to secure orders from China, it is very likely that the whole production line will be shutted down this year. 

Airbus wants Emirates to order enough planes to sustain production at six a year over the next 10 years, giving the aviation giant scope to sell two or three of the superjumbos on top of that to eke out a profit on the program. The company produced 15 in 2017 and has said it plans to reduce that figure to eight next year.  

Airbus orders for 2017 (from FlightGlobal)

Airbus has struggled to rack up sales of the superjumbo these two years.While it's used in the world's biggest airports including London's Heathrow and New York's JFK, the industry as a whole has moved toward smaller planes going point-to-point, reducing airlines' dependence on bigger hubs.

In addition, the A380 is the most expensive and least flexible jetliner for airlines to deploy in their fleets. Some airports had to expand runway facilities in order to accommodate the 550-seat plane. Without new orders, it becomes impossible for Airbus and its suppliers, which include Rolls Royce, GKN and the General Electric, to make a profit.

While the A380 struggles, Airbus is outselling Boeing on smaller single-aisle aircraft like the A320 family. More than 1000 of the A320s are sold in 2017. The achievement is especially notable since Boeing refreshed its lineup last year with the 737 Max 10, a direct competitor of the NEOs.

image from @guesswh00 on Instagram