The biggest downside of the A380 is the enormous size of the aircraft.

Its sheer dimensions mean

entire airports need to be reconfigured to accommodate the big bird. It is somewhat ironic that an
aircraft designed to overcome infrastructure challenges has served to generate a whole bunch of
infrastructure challenges of its own. The bigger issue is terminal space. There just is not enough
space to park an A380 at most airport terminals.

As a result, the A380 is limited to service in just 60 cities worldwide. While Airbus argue that these 60
cities are strategic centres, the lack of flexibility in ways has been a major turnoff for carriers.

The A380 was designed to alleviate infrastructure problems. In 2007, when it entered commercial
service, airports were congested and the A380 was seen as the solution to the problem. However, it
inadvertently created a completely new set of problems for airports itself.

In a last ditch effort to attract more orders, Airbus announced a revamped version of the A380 at the
Paris Air Show 2017. Dubbed the A380 Plus, it includes new winglets for aerodynamic improvements,
which Airbus said would drive down operating costs by around 13% per seat.

However, since then huge investments at airports all over the globe have improved the situation.
Capacity is still close to peak, but advancements in efficiencies of smaller jets, not to mention in air
traffic control systems, mean it is cheaper and easier to fly two, three or even four smaller aircraft
than to operate one or two A380s.