MGT 6303
Unit I Case Study: The Airbus A380
Columbia Southern University
MGT 6303: Project Stakeholders
Unit I Case Study: The Airbus
A380
In the 1990s, commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus sought to design and produce
an aircraft as an answer to their rival Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet. Their aircraft would take
the reign as the largest production passenger aircraft. This double-deck, four-engine behemoth
of an aircraft would be the A380 “superjumbo”. Airbus designed this aircraft with the
assumption that airlines would want a large airplane capable of maximizing passengers at
slot-restricted hub airports such as London Heathrow, New York JFK, Dubai, and Sydney.
After cost-overruns and many production delays, the airplane finally took to the skies and
started flying for airlines. Only a decade later, this marvel of engineering turned out to be a
huge failure for the company. As airlines started to cancel their A380 orders in favor of more
fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft, Airbus has been forced to cease production of the A380.
This project turned out to be a large shortfall for the company and the aircraft has been
deemed a failure. This case study will look into why the A380 was considered a failure. This
paper will also discuss the stakeholder issue linked to the project’s failure and will also
discuss recommendations for what the project team could have done to avoid the failure.
Project
Failure
According to Cusing (2002), projects usually fail because they have been completed
late, fall short of expectation, or exceed the budget. The A380 project fell victim to all of
these reasons. The aircraft was too big for the market. Reed (2019), an expert in aerospace
wrote that in the 1990s, Airbus sought to team up with their rival Boeing to develop the
superjumbo, but
Unit I Case Study: The Airbus A380
Columbia Southern University
MGT 6303: Project Stakeholders
Unit I Case Study: The Airbus
A380
In the 1990s, commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus sought to design and produce
an aircraft as an answer to their rival Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet. Their aircraft would take
the reign as the largest production passenger aircraft. This double-deck, four-engine behemoth
of an aircraft would be the A380 “superjumbo”. Airbus designed this aircraft with the
assumption that airlines would want a large airplane capable of maximizing passengers at
slot-restricted hub airports such as London Heathrow, New York JFK, Dubai, and Sydney.
After cost-overruns and many production delays, the airplane finally took to the skies and
started flying for airlines. Only a decade later, this marvel of engineering turned out to be a
huge failure for the company. As airlines started to cancel their A380 orders in favor of more
fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft, Airbus has been forced to cease production of the A380.
This project turned out to be a large shortfall for the company and the aircraft has been
deemed a failure. This case study will look into why the A380 was considered a failure. This
paper will also discuss the stakeholder issue linked to the project’s failure and will also
discuss recommendations for what the project team could have done to avoid the failure.
Project
Failure
According to Cusing (2002), projects usually fail because they have been completed
late, fall short of expectation, or exceed the budget. The A380 project fell victim to all of
these reasons. The aircraft was too big for the market. Reed (2019), an expert in aerospace
wrote that in the 1990s, Airbus sought to team up with their rival Boeing to develop the
superjumbo, but
