How Airbus’s A380 went from wonder to blunder
When Airbus launched the A380 superjumbo in 2000, it touted the 2-deck plane as “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Instead, the plane exposed dysfunction inside the European aerospace company and now offers a textbook case of a company misjudging its market and losing big. Airbus has sunk at least US$17b into the project yet sold fewer than half of the 750 superjumbo jetliners it promised to deliver by the end of this year. Thursday Airbus said it would cease producing the 555-seat plane at the end of 2021. How did some of the world’s best engineers get their numbers so wrong? Airbus misjudged market trends and underestimated emerging technologies. It compounded the error by justifying its decision with emotion and European pride. Then its production system, organised for politics more than efficiency, failed. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2019-02-20/general/how-airbus2019s-a380-went-from-wonder-to-blunder
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How Airbus’s A380 went from wonder to blunder
When Airbus launched the A380 superjumbo in 2000, it touted the 2-deck plane as “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Instead, the plane exposed dysfunction inside the European aerospace company and now offers a textbook case of a company misjudging its market and losing big. Airbus has sunk at least US$17b into the project yet sold fewer than half of the 750 superjumbo jetliners it promised to deliver by the end of this year. Thursday Airbus said it would cease producing the 555-seat plane at the end of 2021. How did some of the world’s best engineers get their numbers so wrong? Airbus misjudged market trends and underestimated emerging technologies. It compounded the error by justifying its decision with emotion and European pride. Then its production system, organised for politics more than efficiency, failed. <br/>
