Nearly 30 years ago Airbus began charting a new course for air travel with a mammoth jet that would shuttle hundreds of people to far-flung cities worldwide, but harsh economic realities eventually got the better of the A380 superjumbo. After the plane’s launch just over 11 years ago, the final two A380s will be delivered in 2021, Airbus said Thursday, marking the end of an ambitious but ultimately misguided bet. “The A380 was a strategic feat which put Airbus on equal footing with Boeing, by dethroning the 747,” said Sebastian Maire, an aviation expert at the consulting firm Kea & Partners.
