Airbus employs more than 6,000 people at a wing-making plant in Deeside and reports say it is in talks with Emirates with a view to the Middle Eastern airline buying more A380s. Tony McDonough reports

Planemaker Airbus has said reports that it could end production of its A380 superjumbo were “speculation” but has not denied a phasing out of the model was a possibility.

The world’s largest passenger airliner came into service in more than a decade ago and was touted as heralding a new era in air travel. However, there has has not been a single order for the $(US)440m aircraft for almost two years.

Airbus, which employs 11,000 people in the UK including 6,000 at a wing-making plant in Broughton near Wirral, is in negotiations with Emirates with a view to the airline buying more A380s.

However, reports on Reuters and in the Times claim if the talks do not yield a deal then it could mean the end of the line for the model.

In mid-December Airbus chief executive Tom Enders expressed confidence in the future of the aircraft. He said he hoped another carrier, Singapore Airlines, would buy more of the planes.

The Times says that at the Dubai air show in November it was hoped Emirates would announce a $16bn order for 36 A380s in addition to to 42 Airbus is already contracted to deliver. However, it instead announced it was spending $12bn with Airbus’s rival Boeing on 40 787 Dreamliners.

When the A380 was first launched it sounded the death knell for Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet but a little more than a decade later it is now the A380 that faces an uncertain future.

The aircraft is a double-deck, wide-body four-engine airliner and offers 40% more space than that next largest model and can seat more than 850 passengers in an all-economy class configuration.

As well as the 11,000 people it employs directly in the UK Airbus employs tens of thousands more in the wider supply chain. Rolls Royce, which employs 22,000 people in Britain, produces the Trent engines used in the A380.

Workers at the Airbus plant at Broughton in Deeside, which employs many people in the Liverpool city region, produces wings for the A380s as well as other aircraft such as the A350.

This week Reuters quoted a source as saying: “If there is no Emirates deal, Airbus will start the process of ending A380 production.” But in a statement to the Times Airbus said: “We do not comment on any such speculation, especially while campaigns are active and ongoing.”