The world is definitely wanting to remove all the unique planes so far! The Airbus A380 was considered to be an engineering marvel, being a double decker plane which could seat up to 850 passengers. It had efficient engines for it's time, and it had a super advanced navigation system coupled with a suitable range for long haul flights.
Unfortunately, Airbus has pulled the plug on A380 production with the last plane to be delivered in 2021, and for good reason. In the industry where more efficient twin-engine widebodies and narrowbodies are a go-to for airlines, 4-engined jets are now becoming obsolete, burning more fuel and being more expensive to maintain than these twin-engine jets.
Though this is a big blow to Airbus, we did see this coming for a long time. Even when the jet took it's first flight, there were speculations as to whether the program would survive because of the shift in commercial jet aviation. Plus, Airbus was struggling to get orders from carriers due to the high cost of the plane itself and on top of that, airlines operating the A380 had started to retire their planes, such as Singapore Airlines, Air France and Qantas due to their lack of efficiency.
But the last straw was when Emirates ordered 36 A380s last year, only to cancel the order and narrow it's unfilled orders down from 53 to 14 planes this year. In replacement of the A380s, they ordered 40 Airbus A330neos and 30 A350s which supports the fact that efficient twin engine jets are now the norm for airlines.
It is sad to hear that the days of the world's largest commercial jet are now numbered, but on the bright side production will still continue for 2 more years, and planes already in service should stay for years to come. Even though times are changing and so is the norm in the aviation industry, the Airbus A380 will be remembered as the King of the Skies and the largest jet to ever carry passengers.
