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Emirates orders A330neo and A350 as Airbus announces A380 end

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian·
A330neoA350AirbusAirbus IndustrieAviation NewsEmirates

Emirates orders A330neo and A350 as Airbus announces A380 end

After weeks of ongoing talks sending the aviation industry haywire, Emirates and Airbus have reached an agreement which will see the airline order 40 A330-900neos and 30 A350-900s.

The orders comes as the airline opts to reduce their A380 order book down from 162 aircraft to 123. 14 A380s will be handed over to the airline before Airbus ceases deliveries in 2021.

Chief Executive Officer of Airbus, Tom Enders, reflected on the circumstances in the following statement:

“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. This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021. The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full year results.”

Enders remained firm on the fact that the A380 is an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement which passengers all over the world praise.

Emirates orders A330neo and A350 as Airbus announces A380 end
Emirates Airbus A350-900 rendering

Internally at Airbus there is a mixture of deep sadness and relief. The pressure of the A380 program is now gone, however the years of work and pride are now to be closed down. Airbus will continue to support the aircraft and watch it soar through the skies for many years to come.

3000-3500 jobs will be effected as a result of the program termination. Airbus will immediately begin planning ways to utilize their skills around the company. Narrowbody and widebody ramp up is expected to take place over the next couple of years and the large hangar space and workforce from the A380 program are likely to be used for that.

Aaron Hilsz-Lothian

Based in Sydney Australia, Aaron currently works as as a load control planner among the regional operation centre of a major airline. In addition to this, he has multiple years of experience in a frontline aviation environment including ramp, customer acceptance and freight. Writing casually for Sam Chui since 2018, he intends to use his experience in the industry to answer everyday questions that passengers often ponder and to shed light on the complex systems that make aviation so fascinating.

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5 Responses

  1. With Emirates moving away from the A380 and placing orders for the A330 and A350 will this mean that the business class on these new aircraft will be like the current Emirates 777 ? Emirates 777 business class experience compared to the A380 are chalk and cheese, the 777 configuration of 2-3-2 and having to climb over your passenger to get to the toilet is really poor. It’s why the A380 works so well for Emirates, I agree with LJ above it’s all becoming about cramming more seats in to aircraft whilst cleverly playing the environmental card on more fuel efficient aircraft. Why not have both…………
    Very sad to see this great aircraft come to and end, as others have already said losing the Jumbo 747 was the loss of an iconic great aircraft but with the A380 we had a new monster of the sky. Now we have neither

    Reply

  2. An end of an era for large planes. First the 747 and now the A380. Airlines are going for smaller, efficient planes for their fleets.

    Reply

  3. Why is it whenever a comfortable beautiful flying aircraft is introduced, it cannot be sustained on an ongoing basis for the pleasure of the flying public. Sure I understand about business decisions, but all these decisions do is make the shareholders and high level executives richer and cause the flying public to sustain unbearable cramped flying environments for 9 to 17 hours at a time. Two typical examples are the 777 and the 737. Both of these aircraft continue to try to outdo each other how miserable they can make it by cramming more seats in at 10 abreast in the 777 and a 30” pitch and lavs you cannot even get through the door to use, let alone turn around in, the 737 Max. And in addition, both Boeing aircraft being so much more noisy and rougher to fly in then the A380 as well as other Airbus aircraft.
    This truly is just another sad ending to an engineering marvel built for the most comfortable ride in the sky. Now we have lost the 747 and the A380 in favor of twin engine, twin aisle cattle cars of the future. Let’s hear it for the future of comfortable air travel!

    Reply

  5. Bummer to see the end of A380 production, although it was obviously the right choice from a financial standpoint. I guess pulling the plug was Airbus’ Valentine’s Day gift of sorts to its shareholders, although I’m sure (at least some) aviation enthusiasts are heart broken.

    Reply

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