Future of the Airbus A380 up in the air
Airbus has hinted it may ditch the A380 superjumbo as soon as 2018, after failing to find a single airline buyer this year.
Investors were told in London yesterday that the Airbus will break even on the A380 for the next three years, but the outlook doesn’t look so good from 2018 onwards.
At its annual investor meeting, Airbus Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm said the company faced the decision of either making the A380 more attractive by offering new engines or discontinuing the program, Bloomberg reported.
Related: Airbus shares sink on A350 delivery delay
Airbus has already announced its plans to cut A330 production by 10 per cent and said it would have to further curb production in 2016.
The news coincided with the aircraft manufacturer suffering a share price slump overnight after it announced it was postponing the delivery of its new A350 jet to Qatar Airways.
Related: Qantas flies high on profit forecast
Airbus shares fell more than 10 per cent to 43.20 euros after Qatar Airway announced the delivery of its first A350, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was on hold "until further notice."
In its statement, Airbus said "We are working very closely with Qatar Airways to meet our common goal to deliver their firsts A350 XWB very soon."