Airbus A380 and coronavirus: Air France axes grounded A380 fleet, Emirates slashes its order with Airbus

The world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, took a step closer to the aviation archives Wednesday as Air France said it would permanently axe its grounded fleet and sources said Emirates was in talks to reduce remaining deliveries. The superjumbo is close to the end of its production run after demand switched to smaller jets, and airlines including Air France have been idling the double-decker temporarily because of the coronavirus crisis. Air France announced a fresh E500m writedown as it permanently retires its nine jets, just over a decade after becoming the first European airline to operate them. Airbus last year announced plans to stop producing A380s in 2021 due to poor sales. It has nine left to build including eight for Emirates and one for Japan's ANA. Emirates no longer wants to take all eight A380s due to the pandemic and is in talks with Airbus, industry sources said. Both Emirates and Airbus said they were in regular dialogue with each other, declining further comment. Emirates has 50 A350s on order, the price of which could become a bargaining chip in discussions, one added. Emirates is the biggest A380 operator with 115 and has said it expects to keep some into the 2030s.<br/>