Troubled Airbus suffered its second hammerblow in a week on Friday when the last cargo customer deserted the freight version of its delayed A380 superjumbo, days after the planemaker announced 10,000 job cuts.
United Parcel Service Inc said it planned to cancel an order for 10 Airbus A380 freighters, worth approximately $3 billion at list prices, joining its rival FedEx which cancelled an identical order last year.
The US express firms were among buyers angered by delays of up to two years in A380 deliveries, and had been the sole takers of a superfreighter version on which Airbus had pinned hopes of challenging the Boeing 747 in global airborne trade.
In London, Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic said it expects to decide within a month whether it will acquire new Airbus or Boeing planes to help it deal with the delay in the A380.