Originally Posted by bhrubin

All fine and dandy, but the topic at hand is whether or not the A380--not Airbus--is a failure. The A380 may be a delight for premium class passengers with the enhancements permitted by the extra space, but that doesn't mean the plane itself is a winner for Airbus. In simple economic terms, Airbus is unlikely to ever recoup its investment for the next 30+ years AT LEAST on the A380. That is what I call a business failure.

For the airlines that already have the A380, and Emirates which continues to get more, I'm sure they will serve their purpose for the few routes on which the A380 makes sense. I am very excited to fly the BA A380 in F in October the the EK A380 in F in January. I'm sure they will offer a F experience unlike any I've had thus far (except for CX F, perhaps). I will look forward to enjoying SQ A380 F, QF A380 F , LH A380 F, and OZ A380 F in the future, too. But I likely won't be seeing the A380 too often on most of the routes I fly or hope to fly since the A380 is just too big for those routes.