With the global economy what it is, it’s probably not that surprising to read reports that Airbus is busy reducing deliveries of its much-vaunted A380 jumbo jet, the world’s largest aircraft.
The company announced recently that it would only deliver 14 of the double-decker A380s this year, down from 18, and 20 next year, down from 45.
The 525-seat plane has a list cost of $237 million, according to the New York Times.
Not that many airlines are flying the A380; so far, just Emirates, Singapore and Qantas have incorporated the model into their fleets.
Qantas is one of the airlines that has said it would be deferring deliveries of future A380s because it doesn’t have the money to pay for them. Airbus is not naming other specific airlines, but China Southern, Air France-KLM and India’s Kingfisher have also said they’d be postponing delivery of the aircraft.