Cost, ROI, Economics, as all have said. Basically Boeing was right in that more people want to fly direct point-to-point versus connections as well. There is a reason the 330 does so well for Airbus, as well as the 787 for Boeing. The A380 does not make routes like Houston-Auckland, Austin-London, Nashville-London, Philadelphia-Prague, etc etc work. 787s and 330 NEOs do.

The wing was engineered for the -900 so it is sub optimal on the -800, which is all they produce. Combine that with the inefficiency of 4 engines and you have a CASM nightmare at a very large gauge.

One article I read said that even though it would lose money on it's own, it impacted sufficiently on 747 sales such that Boeing could not subsidise smaller aircraft costs using profits on the 747. As such, Airbus smaller aircraft sales rose making much 380 losses have much less impact than many think.

I am sorry to see it go. In some ways I feel that engineering and taking a big chance on a new product seems to have almost completely died out.

The plane looks horrible but it is a pleasure to climb the stairs and enjoy a long haul flight on the second deck. It's smoother than any other airplane I've flown on and extremely quiet. I seek them out when I get the chance, which looks like it'll be happening less and less in the future.

I wonder if some of the 0.01% will use some of their excess cash to buy/refurb an A380 as a super air limo to impress their friends?

The high end of the super rich may look at appearances and think that a 747-8i looks nicer than an A380. If I were in the high end of the super rich, I might lean towards a 747-8i or an A340-500. I'd be happy with a 737 BBJ MAX 7

Looks like there have been 11 deliveries of the 747-8i to VIPs versus none (?) of the A380. 12 deliveries of the 787, 13 of the 777.

A380 private jet.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cert-hall.html

Has he been let off the luxury jail ? I thought all of them have a travel ban in place and aren't allowed to leave Saudi. Maybe he can fly from one Saudi city to another !

One thing not mentioned is that is wasn't easily convertible to cargo, something the 747 was.

I can't see a Saudi buying a second hand A380. Airbus might give a really good deal on 1 if another cancelation occurs.

This is a pretty vivid and succinct example. Other than slot-restricted airports, when does it make financial sense to operate the A380?

When those two twin-engine planes can be sent elsewhere making significantly more money.

Can you explain the physics of your first point? I would have assumed (and I'm obviously wrong) that 2 x 280 planes = greater weight = greater energy required to overcome gravity/drag? There is a marginal increase in weight to add each additional passenger with occasional discontinuities to add additional power. An unloaded 777 costs X per km, a 777 with 280 passengers on board doesn't cost 2x

Surely (for example) a single 560 seat quad engine 380 is cheaper than 140 4-seater prop puddle jumpers?