Vincent Boland: End of Airbus’s double-decker a sign of aviation’s changed flight plan

The aerospace giant and its fierce rival Boeing face enormous challenges in the years ahead, and both need to be airborne again before long

Airbus A380 wide-body jetliners at the Dubai International Airshow in 2019. Picture: Getty

A few days before Christmas, an Airbus A380 aeroplane that had rolled off the production line at a manufacturing site in the German city of Hamburg was flown to the Persian Gulf to begin service for Emirates Airlines. And as it landed in Dubai, a short and sobering chapter in the history of aviation was closed for good.

The plane was the final A380 to be built. Airbus announced three years ago, before anybody had ...