Airbus scraps A380 superjumbo as sales slump

Airbus TOULOUSE, FRANCE — will cease production of its mammoth A380 passenger jet, an engineering marvel that nevertheless couldn’t keep up with shifts in the way people fly, the European aircraft maker said Thursday.

Citing reduced orders from Emirates Airline, a major customer, and an inability to find other buyers, the company said it would halt deliveries of the jumbo jetliner in 2021, although it said it would continue to support existing A380s.

“As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years,” the company’s chief executive, Tom Enders, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide.”

The decision will lead to job cuts at Airbus, potentially affecting as many as 3,500 of its 134,000 employees over the next three years.

The announcement overshadowed the company’s announcement on Thursday of its full-year results. Its net income rose 29 percent in 2018 to 3.1 billion euros, or about $3.5 billion.

Airbus spent $25 billion developing the double-decker, four-engine aircraft, which can carry more than 500 passengers while offering amenities like showers and a bar. It was built for a time when crowded airports would demand that planes carry more people to reduce congestion.

But flight traffic instead shifted to smaller planes, which are cheaper to maintain, flying to regional airports, a move that reduced demand for larger aircraft.

Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, was Airbus’ main A380 customer , with a fleet of more than 100, but the airline has scaled back its plans and will take delivery of 14 more over the next two years.