Airbus A380 has failed to live up to its hype after 10 years in the skies
A380 has won just 317 orders, less than a third of what Airbus projected for its first 20 years
At the tender age of 10, the Airbus A380 is already entering a mid-life crisis.
The double-decker aircraft has failed to win a single order from any new airline customer for two years now, and senior management was forced to come to the airliner's defence in December after the planemaker's parent introduced the possibility of axing the A380 outright. As the mid point of the year approaches, the plane has yet again drawn a blank on deals.
It is a far cry from the jubilation in 2005, when the giant airliner took off for the first time and Airbus said the A380, certified to carry as many as 853 passengers, would push arch-rival Boeing out of the monopoly on jumbo jets it held for decades and herald a new dawn of travel, pairing ultra-luxury with mass transport while alleviating the strain on congested airports.
"It's true the market hasn't developed as much as we'd have liked," Airbus Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier said this month. "This plane was probably launched 10 years too early."
Bregier is now trying to breathe fresh life into the A380 campaign. Airbus has assembled a team of employees from within sales, marketing, engineering and design to lobby existing and future customers of the aircraft - including those who may buy the aircraft second-hand.
The "new organisation will enhance our ability to respond to market trends and customer needs quicker, by developing and deploying complete solutions faster - in order to explore and open up new market segments", the company said in response to questions.