Europe's Airbus announced plans to scrap production of the world's largest airliner on Thursday, abandoning its A380 superjumbo program in favor of smaller, more nimble jets.

In a statement published on Thursday, Airbus said the last A380 will be delivered in 2021.

The decision comes after Emirates — the largest A380 customer — decided to cut back its orders of the iconic aircraft and order a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo models instead.

"As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years. This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021," Airbus CEO Tom Enders said in a statement on Thursday.

"The consequences of this decision are largely embedded in our 2018 full year results," Enders said.

Airbus said it would start discussions with unions in the coming weeks regarding the 3,000 to 3,500 jobs potentially affected by the news.