While the United States is home to the world’s three or four largest airlines (depending on the metric), it doesn’t operate the largest passenger aircraft. No US-based airline ordered the Airbus A380 Superjumbo, even though Pan Am had been the first to fly the Boeing 747-100 Jumbo in 1970. United Airlines operates the second-largest fleet of widebody aircraft after Emirates, and yet it didn’t order the Airbus A380. But why?

Looking beyond the United States, no Canadian airline ordered the A380, nor did any airline in Mexico, Central America, or South America, meaning the giant aircraft failed to attract a single order from the Western Hemisphere. Here is what to know about why no airline in the United States ordered the Airbus A380.

Most US Carriers Are Domestically Focused

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While the United States has around 14 significant commercial airlines, most of these are focused on short or medium-haul domestic operations, including flights to leisure destinations in the greater Caribbean region. Southwest Airlines is the fourth-largest airline in the United States by fleet size, but it only operates domestic flights (and leisure flights to the greater Caribbean). It doesn’t fly to Canada as its system is unable to receive Canadian Dollars.

Both Southwest and Alaska operate all-narrowbody Boeing 737 aircraft. Meanwhile, low-cost carriers like Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier operate all (or near-all) Airbus A320 family aircraft fleets. Breeze Airways mostly operates Airbus A220 aircraft, and JetBlue operates A220 and A320 family aircraft. Hawaiian Airlines (now being absorbed by Alaska) is the only smaller US airline to operate widebody aircraft (it has A330s and 787s).

In short, even though the US has the largest aviation market in the world, it only has three airlines, namely American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, that could have feasibly operated the A380. These, with JetBlue, are the only US carriers to operate transatlantic flights to Europe. Had the A380 come in the planned freighter variant, DHL and UPS could have ordered it, but that variant was never built.

US Carriers Operate From Dispersed Hubs

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For years, the big three US carriers have been moving away from operating large widebody aircraft. Design work on the A380 began in the 1990s when Airbus thought the future of aviation would see a growing demand to relieve aircraft congestion at major airports and to support a hub-and-spoke model. However, US carriers moved in the opposite direction.

While carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways are focused on connecting most of the world’s major airports through their singular hubs, centrally located in the Middle East, the same is not true of US carriers. The bulk of the big three US carrier operations are domestic flights. These carriers also serve the whole of the massive continental United States. As the United States is so huge with many major centers, airlines cannot operate just one major hub.

United Airlines operates around eight main hubs, American has around ten hubs, and Delta Air Lines has around nine hubs. The exact number of hubs depends on the criteria used. Having many smaller hubs makes it more feasible for these airlines to operate smaller, lower-capacity long-range aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 or A330neo. It is difficult for these airlines to find enough demand on their routes to reliably fill an aircraft as large as the A380.

US Carriers Moved Away From Ultra-Large Widebodies

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US-based carriers have been moving away from ultra-large aircraft for years. Not ordering the Airbus A380 is consistent with a broader trend in the big three. American Airlines retired its last cargo Boeing 747s in 1994, although it had ended passenger services on the Jumbos for years before that. United and Delta both retired the last of their Boeing 747-400s in 2017.

The Airbus A380 wasn’t the only large aircraft on the market; Boeing built the refreshed and modernized Boeing 747-8 with the first passenger example entering service in 2012 with Lufthansa. However, no US carrier purchased the Boeing 747-8 passenger variant. Internationally, the aircraft was unpopular, and most of the 155 units built were freighters. US airlines also declined to order the quad-engined Airbus A340, a cousin to the twin-engined A330.

This is continuing, as no US carrier (including DHL and UPS) has ordered the upcoming Boeing 777X, with United calling it “too big.” The upper limit for US carriers appears to be the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350. Both United and American operate fleets of 777-300ERs, but it seems they are more interested in eventually replacing them with smaller 787s or A350s. Delta is moving away from Boeing widebodies and only ordering A330neos and A350s.

The A380 Was A Flawed Aircraft

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It can be argued that the US carrier snub of the A380 was nothing personal, as the snub is for all large widebodies including Boeing’s 747-8 and 777X. But another factor is that the A380 was a fundamentally flawed aircraft. Airbus engineers had set themselves to build a big aircraft, not necessarily a modern aircraft. The aircraft did not extensively use lightweight composites, and its engines were quickly superseded.

Reflecting on the failure of the Airbus A380 program, Airbus said it was “blindsided” by engine manufacturers in 2000. Engine manufacturers assured Airbus as they were launching the program, ” there was nothing on the horizon with better specific fuel consumption [SFC] for years to come.” However, three years before Airbus had delivered its first A380, Rolls-Royce and General Electric rolled out new engines with 15% better specific fuel consumption for the new Boeing 787.

The emergence of the Boeing 787 forced Airbus to develop the A350. The Airbus A380 entered service in 2007, the 787 followed in 2011, and the A350 in 2015. It became clear that the A380 was inefficient and the giant was quickly outcompeted by these smaller twin-engined aircraft. Emirates slashed its orders of A380s in favor of A350s and A330s (the A330s were later canceled). Even so, Emirates is an outlier, seemingly enamored with the A380. While most airlines are itching to retire their remaining A380s, Emirates has pitched to Airbus to build a modernized “A380neo.”

A Vicious Self-Fulfilling Cycle

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Yet another factor influencing the decision may have been a herding effect. Airlines do not like risk, and all new aircraft are inherently risky. Airlines feel safer ordering popular aircraft. Not only is it comforting to know that planning teams from other airlines are choosing aircraft as a good option, but this also creates a virtuous cycle.

The more airlines order an aircraft, the more the kinks and wrinkles of that aircraft will be worked out. More spare parts and services will be maintained to service these aircraft. One of the major issues with the A380 is that it quickly went out of production. This means many components are no longer produced as subcontractors have gone out of business or moved on. This is forcing airlines to cannibalize parts of their fleets to keep aircraft flying.

Another great example of this vicious cycle is the unpopular Airbus A330-800neo. Almost all airlines have ordered the A330-900neo. Hawaiian Airlines was one of the few airlines to order the A330-800neo, but in the end, it cancelled the order partly because it felt nervous that almost no one else was ordering it. Hawaiian eventually switched to ordering the popular 787-9. With Hawaiian canceling, the chances of any other airline placing new orders for the -800neo also dropped (although they were already low).

Just Not The Aircraft For The North American Market

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The reasons for US-based airlines not to order the A380 can be seen as a combination of factors. One major reason stems from the model of operating the many large hubs needed to serve a country as vast as the United States. Even with Delta operating a hub as large as Atlanta, the model favors smaller aircraft. US airlines had already been on the path to smaller aircraft before the A380 appeared.

Another factor was that the Airbus A380 was inefficient. If this wasn’t apparent in the early years, it soon became apparent as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and later the Airbus A350 took shape. As time went on, more airlines grew nervous about the superjumbo. That nervousness spread, causing other airlines to become nervous. Soon it became clear that anyone ordering the jet would be left with an aircraft that would inevitably go out of production. That would make it difficult to maintain and source spare parts.

In short, the Airbus A380 was, from its inception, not an aircraft for the North American market. Its failure in other markets only reinforced that. But that doesn’t mean US carriers are overly cautious and will only stick with the tried and tested. United, Delta, and Alaska are all investing in JetZero’s new revolutionary blended-wing-body airliner, while United and American have ordered Boom Supersonic’s upcoming supersonic Overture aircraft.