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ANA to purchase three A380 planes from Airbus

In a rare bright spot for the beleaguered aircraft, European plane maker Airbus has won a deal to sell three A380 superjumbo jets to ANA Holdings.

Japan’s biggest carrier will pay roughly $1.25 billion for the planes.

The new aircraft are to be introduced in fiscal 2018 in routes to Hawaii and elsewhere.

Orders for Airbus A380s have dried up in recent years, with none ordered in 2015.

The slowdown in sales reflects a shift in the industry toward smaller, twin-engine planes that cost less to fly on point-to-point routes.

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Efforts to sell the A380 suffered a setback in 2014 when it cancelled a $2 billion contract with Japanese discount carrier Skymark Airlines.

Emirates remains the largest customer for the world’s largest passenger plane, with the UAE-based carried committed to order a total of 140 A380s.