Editing Airbus A380 (section)

===Production===
In 2005, 270 sales were necessary to attain [[break-even]] and with 751 expected deliveries its [[internal rate of return]] outlook was at 19%, but due to disruptions in the [[ramp-up]] leading to overcosts and delayed deliveries, it increased to 420 in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eads.com/xml/content/OF00000000400004/0/74/41485740.pdf |title=A380 financial update |author=Andreas Sperl |publisher=EADS |date=19 October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103062416/http://www.eads.com/xml/content/OF00000000400004/0/74/41485740.pdf |archive-date=3 November 2006}}</ref> In 2010, EADS CFO Hans Peter Ring said that break-even could be achieved by 2015 when 200 deliveries were projected.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/eads-hopeful-a380-could-break-even-in-2015-342126/ |title= EADS hopeful A380 could break even in 2015 |work= Flight International |date= 19 May 2010}}</ref> In 2012, Airbus clarified that the aircraft production costs would be less than its sales price.<ref name="wsjDMcc">{{cite news |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303644004577522643299354320 |title= Airbus Wants A380 Cost Cuts |work= The Wall Street Journal |author= Daniel Michaels |date= 13 July 2012 |url-access= subscription}}</ref>

On 11 December 2014, Airbus [[chief financial officer]] Harald Wilhelm hinted the possibility of ending the programme in 2018, disappointing Emirates president Tim Clark.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-emirates-airbus-group-idUSKBN0JP0W020141211 |author= Tim Hepher |title= Fury at Airbus after it hints the super-jumbo may be mothballed |work= Reuters |date= 11 December 2014}}</ref> Airbus shares fell down consequently.<ref>{{cite news |title= Airbus shares fall over A380 threat |work= BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30427116 |date= 11 December 2014}}</ref> Airbus responded to the protests by playing down the possibility the A380 would be abandoned, instead emphasising that enhancing the aeroplane was a likelier scenario.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/19274cca-8155-11e4-a493-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/19274cca-8155-11e4-a493-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title= Airbus plays down fears over A380 future |work= Financial Times |date= 11 December 2014 |author= Michael Stothard}}</ref> On 22 December 2014, as the jet was about to break even, Airbus CEO [[Fabrice Brégier]] ruled out cancelling it.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/airbus-a350-delivery-idUSL6N0U61HS20141222 |title= UPDATE 1-Airbus delivers first A350, rules out cancelling A380 project |work=Reuters |date=22 December 2014 |author= Tim Hepher}}</ref>

Ten years after its first flight, Brégier said it was "almost certainly introduced ten years too early".<ref>{{cite news |url= http://aviationweek.com/blog/airbus-a380-makes-maiden-flight-2005 |title= Airbus A380 Makes Maiden Flight (2005) |work= [[Aviation Week & Space Technology]] |author= Jens Flottau |date= 24 April 2015}}</ref> While no longer losing money on each plane sold, Airbus admits that the company will never recoup the $25&nbsp;billion investment it made in the project.<ref name="Bloomberg27apr2015">{{cite news |url= https://skift.com/2015/04/27/airbus-a380-is-the-plane-airlines-arent-ordering-anymore/ |title= Airbus A380 Is the Plane Airlines Aren't Ordering Anymore |author= Andrea Rothman |work= Skift |agency= Bloomberg |date= 27 April 2015 }}</ref>

Airbus consistently forecast 1,400 VLA demand over 20-year, still in 2017, and aimed to secure a 50% share, up to 700 units, but delivered 215 aircraft in 10 years, achieving three produced per month but not the four per month target after the ramp-up to achieve more than 350 and is now declining to 0.5 a month.<!--<ref name=Flight19sep2017/>-->
As Boeing see the VLA market as too small to retain in its 2017 forecast, its VP marketing Randy Tinseth does not believe Airbus will deliver the rest of the backlog.<ref name="Flight19sep2017" />

[[Richard Aboulafia]] predicted a 2020 final delivery, with unpleasant losses due to "hubris, shoddy [[market analysis]], nationalism and simple wishful thinking".<!--<ref name=Flight19sep2017/>-->
In 2017, the A380 fleet exceeded the number of remaining passenger B747s, which had declined from 740 aircraft when the A380 was launched in 2000 to 550 units when the A380 was introduced in 2007, and around 200 ten years later.<!--<ref name=Flight19sep2017/>--> However, the market-share battle has shifted to large single-aisles and 300-seat twin-aisles.<ref name="Flight19sep2017" />