Airbus A380 suffers from lack of orders

Toulouse

AT the tender age of 10, the Airbus A380 is already entering a mid-life crisis.

The double-decker aircraft has failed to win a single order from any new airline customer for two years now, and senior management was forced to come to the airliner's defence in December after the planemaker's parent introduced the possibility of axing the A380 outright. As the midpoint of the year approaches, the plane has yet again drawn a blank on deals.

It's a far cry from the jubilations in 2005, when the giant airliner took off for the first time, hailed as the star of 21st century aviation. Airbus said that the A380, certified to carry as many as 853 passengers, would push arch-rival Boeing Co out of the monopoly on jumbo jets it held for decades and herald a new dawn of travel, pairing ultra-luxury with …