Virgin cancels Airbus A380 order, conceding the super-jumbo has no place in its fleet
Berlin/London — Virgin Atlantic Airways canceled its order for six Airbus SE A380 super-jumbos, finally acknowledging that the world’s largest passenger aircraft has no place in its fleet after years of deferring a decision on the double-decker. The deletion appeared in Airbus’s February order-and-delivery tally published on Wednesday, and was confirmed by the airline. Virgin originally ordered the planes more than a decade ago, but proceeded to give only tepid support to the A380 as it went on to build a fleet around smaller wide-body jets. CEO Craig Kreeger said that England-based Virgin is happy with its relationship with Airbus, from which it recently agreed to buy the latest A350 twin-jet model, but that the four-engined, 550-seat A380 was "never really likely to make sense" for the company. "It was not a particularly difficult call to make," Kreeger said in an interview in London as Virgin revealed a new economy-class product. "It was nice having it as an option in case the wo...
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