Airbus’s hopes of a revival of orders for its super-jumbo A380 took a Christmas-time hit as Iran crossed an order for a dozen off its new-plane shopping list. The Iranian airline, which hasn’t been able to refresh its fleet for years because of sanctions, has ordered over 200 planes from Boeing and Airbus.
The orders originally included the A380s, giving Airbus a hope of keeping the slow-selling plane in production. It originally expected to sell about 1200 of the planes, which can seat over 600 passengers in some configurations. Instead, it has built just under 200, with nearly half going to one carrier, Emirates.
There are 119 A380s on the order book, but many of those orders are open to cancellation as airline needs change. Airbus has cut production to one a month rather than just closing the line.
Ironically, Boeing’s older not-as-jumbo, the 747, has seen its long-predicted shutdown pushed even further back by recent freighter orders, and now by Iran Air including 4 747-8s in its order.
