Almost every couple of weeks, we hear that Airbus is not achieving orders, that its order book is depleted, that if it doesn't get orders soon it's going to crash and burn. The biggest comments are directed at the biggest aircraft: the A380 with "no new orders, A380 is a failure" being the general drift.

But here's the thing: Airbus has orders in abundance: indeed, it could not satisfy its existing orders within a year if it tried.