Government subsidies - running out of other people's money

Airbus is a European company and is very heavily subsidized by the trolls in Brussels. From Bloomberg:

Airbus Will Stop Making the World’s Largest Passenger Jet
Airbus SE decided to stop making the A380 double-decker after a dozen years in service, burying a prestige project that won the hearts of passengers and politicians but never the broad support of airlines that instead preferred smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Production of the jumbo jet will end by 2021, after the A380’s biggest customer, Emirates, and a handful of remaining buyers receive their last orders. The Gulf carrier will pare down its current A380 order to 14 from 53. Emirates said separately it would purchase 70 smaller A330neo and A350 widebodies listed at $21.4 billion before customary discounts.

“Today’s announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide” Airbus Chief Executive Office Tom Enders said in a statement. Airbus said as many as 3,500 jobs are affected by the decision.

While the A380 has struggled for years to match its popular appeal with a robust order book, the radical move to cancel the plane outright marks a watershed moment for civil aviation. The A380 was always more than an aircraft, albeit a very large one. Rather, it was the manifestation of Europe’s collaborative drive and the continent’s industrial ambitions. For Airbus, the airliner sought to create a commanding counterweight to Boeing Co., promising unparalleled space and luxury for increasingly congested airports and the skies above.

The A380's first commercial flight was in 2007 - eleven years ago. The Boeing 747 had it's first commercial flight in 1969 and is still being manufactured today - fifty years of production.

Airbus decided to build a monster airplane but they forgot to ask their customers if this was something THEY wanted. Subsidies from the EU kept this project afloat but eventually, reality reared its ugly head and they are forced to pull the plug. Another instance of hard data trumping an idealistic narrative.

Tell me again how centralized government is so much better than raw capitalism.