According to a report by Bloomberg:
“Airbus Group NV raised the prospect of discontinuing its A380 superjumbo as soon as 2018, the first admission that it may have misjudged the market for the double-decker after failing to find a single airline buyer this year.
While Airbus will break even on the plane in 2015, 2016 and 2017, that outlook doesn’t hold for 2018, forcing the company to either offer new engines to make the A380 more attractive or discontinue the program, Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm told investors at a meeting in London on December 10.”
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Meanwhile Emirates President Tim Clark criticized other airlines for not ordering the Super Jumbo:
According to AirlineRatings.com:
“The chief of the world’s largest airline has criticized airlines for not buying more A380 super jumbo’s as Airbus hints at closing the production line down in 2018.
Responding to a Bloomberg report about Airbus CFO, Harald Wilhelm, telling investors in London on Wednesday that Airbus is considering closing the A380 line because of a lack of orders, Emirates President Sir Tim Clark warned that with air travel due to double in the next ten years to 7 billion passengers, airlines and airports will need giant jets like the 517 seat A380.
“The A380 is a passenger magnet. We operate five a day from Dubai to London’s Heathrow and they are 95 per cent full,” Mr Clark told Airlineratings.com in an exclusive interview.
“Airlines are too conservative and have not put the right interiors into their A380s.”
“Some of the interiors are a disgrace and used 1970s thinking,” Mr Clark told Airlineratings.com.
“We put all our premium seats on the upper deck and economy on the main deck, but others have mixed them which is inefficient.”
“Our competitors laughed at us when we put showers and a lounge in the A380.”
“But passengers love the showers and the lounge.”
“The A380 is a great aircraft. If airlines don’t believe they can fill an A380 then their business model is wrong,” said Mr Clark.
“Their marketing is all wrong.”
Emirates has 55 A380s in service with orders for a further 85. However sales to other airlines have almost dried up.
Airbus is considering an upgrade of the A380 -called the A380neo- with new engines and aerodynamic improvements.
Mr Clark said the new model, if built, will have excellent economics, as good as the Boeing 777X that Boeing will introduce in 2018.
“And we will buy 140 of the A380neos” Mr Clark told Airlineratings.com.
“As long as I am around I am going to continue to fight the battle for the A380.”
“This is a great aircraft and the world needs it.”
Read the full report: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: SPA/AirlinersGallery.com. Emirates’s Airbus A380-861 A6-EDG (msn 023) arrives in London (Heathrow).
Emirates aircraft slide show: 
Filed under: Airbus, Emirates Airline Tagged: 023, A380, A380-800, A380-861, A6-EDG, Airbus, Airbus A380, Airbus A380-800, Bloomberg, Emirates, Emirates Airline, Harald Wilhelm, Heathrow, LHR, London, Tim Clark
