Why Did Emirates Cancel Airbus A380 Orders?

Emirates is the biggest operator of the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger plane, but despite its love for the aircraft, it once cancelled many orders.

The decision to cancel orders wasn’t simple; it was significant and redefined the airline and the programme.

Emirates Loves The A380

Emirates’ love for the Airbus A380 dates back sometime before its eventual landmark order cancellation. The airline saw the aircraft as one that would help redefine what it meant to travel.

Furthermore, the A380 capabilities perfectly aligned with what Emirates was trying to develop as a major international airline to help propel Dubai forward as a hub for travel.

The A380’s high capacity has meant Emirates can transport hundreds upon hundreds to major capital cities from its home in Dubai, all the while minimising the number of daily flights over using a twin-engine type.

Emirates’ love for the A380 meant that throughout the aircraft’s production life, it continued to return to place more orders and steadily take deliveries of the type.

Before long, Emirates quickly amassed over 100 units, which colossally outnumbered any other airline that had purchased the A380. Ultimately, the Dubai-based airline was one of the few to truly figure out the plane and have a business model that allowed it to work.

An Order Cancellation Comes

As the latter stages of the 2010s approached, however, question marks around the direction of Emirates’ fleet began to take over as the airline reviewed its operations.

When 2018 came to a close, there were murmurs that the airline may shift some of its remaining Airbus A380 orders to other aircraft to diversify its business.

On 14 February 2019, Airbus and Emirates agreed on the fate of the remaining orders for the Airbus A380 alongside another core announcement.

It was a dark day for the A380 programme. An order cancellation put future production targets at risk, as no other airline had expressed interest in purchasing the type.

The agreement would see Emirates reduce its orderbook for the A380 from 162 units to 123, a drop of almost 40 units over the following two years.

Airbus and Emirates acknowledged the role the A380 had played and would continue to play even with the order reduction. The planemaker said the aircraft was the airline’s flagship and had contributed to the success enjoyed over a decade for the Middle Eastern carrier.

A Big Emirates Order?

While the order cancellation was tough for all parties involved, another part of the announcement involving a substantial new order lessened the blow.

As part of its fleet renewal efforts, Emirates announced that it followed a thorough study of the entire operation to determine the best course of direction.

That direction would see Emirates commit to 70 new aircraft from the European planemaker and involve re-purchasing the A350-900, of which 30 units were initially selected.

Furthermore, Emirates would also commit to purchasing 40 Airbus A330neo units, specifically the A330-900.

The view was that these aircraft would substantially enhance the airline’s overall flexibility in daily flying and complement an existing fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.

Ultimately, purchasing these new aircraft would help propel Emirates into a new era, but it would lead to an announcement from the European planemaker that would end one.

Airbus Confirms A380s End

Unfortunately, with Emirates cancelling a significant number of its remaining A380s, Airbus also decided to conclude deliveries once Emirates took on the final unit.

Deliveries were announced to cease towards the backend of 2021, marking the end of the line for the world’s largest passenger plane from the standpoint of production.

While this was always going to be an unfortunate decision, considering the number of passengers and the planemaker’s love for the aircraft, the series did struggle to attract the interest that maybe once was expected of it.

When Emirates went on to cancel almost 40 units at the beginning of 2019, the realisation was that Airbus could not find another customer to ensure long-term production could continue for the quad-engined superjumbo.

However, there were also internal and external arguments that the space allocated to producing the A380s could be better used for other in-production aircraft programmes across Airbus.

As the new decade approached, what airlines were looking to purchase had radically changed, and types such as the A321neo and its derivates, such as the soon-to-be-announced A321XLR, were in hot demand.

Unfortunately, by concluding the A380 production, Airbus has been able to free up a significant amount of space within its factories to build other aircraft that have larger backlogs and are continuously being ordered.