Airbus is planning to build fewer of its A380 superjumbos.<br /><br /> It will slow assembly to one aircraft per month from 2018, saying that was to allow it to “smooth deliveries pending new orders”.<br /><br /> Currently it turns out five of the giant aircraft every two months. <br /><br /> The European planemaker is struggling to revive sales of the world’s largest passenger jet. <br /><br /> Singapore Airlines recently said it will not extend the lease on its first A380 when it expires next year. It has 19 of them and five more on order. <br /><br /> And Australia’s Qantas – which has eight – does not want the eight more it has ordered.<br /><br /> But Alain Flourens, who heads the A380 programme, told French newspaper Le Figaro: “The A380 still has a place in the Airbus product portfolio.” <br /><br /> Airbus has said the double-decker is still attractive because it believes it helps to solve airport congestion and growing air traffic.<br /><br /> But sales of large four-engine airliners like the 544-seat A380 have been hit hard by improvements in the range and efficiency of smaller two-engined models, which can be easier to fill.<br /><br /> Flourens added that Airbus has plans to improve the plane’s efficiency.<br />
