4 ms·

If it were truly profitable it would still be in operation. The evidence doesn't even need to be explained, unless you believe the airline industry willingly a

If it were truly profitable it would still be in operation. The evidence doesn't even need to be explained, unless you believe the airline industry willingly abandoned a profitable product.

tomatocracy 6y ago
There's been a lot of speculation as to why it was ultimately cancelled and whether it was or wasn't profitable. BA certainly claimed it was profitable at the time of withdrawal which was blamed on the airworthiness certificate being withdrawn by Airbus (who bought Aerospatiale) who refused to supply more spare parts. The speculation is more that it wasn't as profitable for BA as first class on a B747-400. It may well not have been profitable for Air France by the end though.
- strig 6y ago
  Also the crash that left over 100 dead.
  - mpweiher 6y ago
    Caused by runway debris from a Continental Airlines DC-10.
- gsnedders 6y ago
  My understanding is Airbus hadn't really wanted to keep dealing with it for a while, and once Air France pulled out Airbus took that as a reason to step away. I believe it had been losing money for Air France, and the cost to retrofit aircraft to avoid another incident inevitably worsened that.