While aircraft manufacturers are always inserting the phrase
“bestselling aircraft” into the marketing language for their most popular jets,
they would never want to draw attention to their “worst sellers.”
We recently took a look at the Boeing jets that weren’t exactly big hits with airline
customers – let’s now take a look at the planes that Airbus has had trouble selling.
Let’s first start small and take a look at the Airbus A318 – affectionately known
as the “baby bus.” At a length of just 31.4 meters, or 103 feet, the A318 is the
smallest member of the single-aisle A320 family. This jet has racked up a paltry 80 orders, flying
with airlines such as Air France, British Airways, and Romania’s Tarom. In contrast, the A319ceo
had accumulated orders for nearly 1500 jets, and for the A320ceo that number is over 4700.
Beyond its 10% range boost above the A320, the A318’s big selling feature was its exceptional
commonality with other A320 family jets (A319, A320, and A321). This would allow for much more
streamlined crew training and maintenance. It’s downfall largely came from its
classification. Although the planemaker hoped to make the A318 a regional jet alternative,
regulations in both the US and Europe placed it in the same class as larger aircraft. Thus, its
cost-to-passenger ratio suffered when calculating landing fees and other weight-related charges.
Designed throughout the 1970s and 80s, the A340 was Airbus’ attempt at a high-capacity,
long-range aircraft suited for trans-oceanic operations.
Its four-engine design was meant to bypass ETOPS regulations of the time.
Unfortunately, having four engines would detract from its popularity as ETOPS restrictions
were eventually adjusted and allowed for longer-distance flights with two-engined aircraft.
Suddenly, aircraft like the Boeing 767, and eventually the 777, would become much more
attractive options, requiring less maintenance while burning less fuel.
Airbus had a total of 375 A340 family deliveries. Its worst-seller was the A340-200
with just 28 orders, followed closely by the -500 with 32 orders. In contrast, the twin-engine model
developed parallel to the A340, the A330ceo, had racked up orders for nearly 1500 jets.
This popularity allowed Airbus to continue the program as the A330neo.
We should note however that the shorter a330neo, the -800,
hasn’t been a hot seller. In fact, it’s only had orders for 15 units.
The aircraft IS relatively new, and thus sales may pick up once airlines retire their A330-200s.
Then, of course, there’s the superjumbo we’re all familiar with – the Airbus A380.
We’ve perhaps covered the unpopularity of this jet more than we’d like to. This four-engine,
double-decker behemoth only managed to acquire orders for 251 aircraft, having had several
cancelations along the way. A single operator, Emirates, accounts for nearly half of all orders.
Its lack of popularity has largely been seen as bad timing – entering service at a time when
point-to-point travel was becoming more popular, as opposed to the hub-and-spoke network model.
Other well-documented drawbacks include its size category and limited access to airports as well as
High operating costs such as fuel and maintenance. As time moves forward, plane makers like Boeing
and Airbus have almost certainly been taking note of these costly failures,
working towards designing the right aircraft for airline customers,
which are more likely to draw higher sales.
Does our list of Airbus’ worst-selling aircraft surprise you? Let us know in the comments.