Not a surprise. Airlines couldn’t fill the plane. Only a limited number of airports could accommodate it. There is also a huge lack of a secondary market. The big airlines bought them at a massive price tag and couldn’t sell them down to anyone else. No budget airline sure as hell doesn’t want one of these things.
It’s one of those situations where an idea is bigger than common sense. This plane was supposed to represent the new European unity and rising economic might. It was supposed to take over the market dominated by the 747 and put Boeing in trouble of the rising Airbus. But in the end, it never made any economic sense.
No ability to convert it to cargo was nearly fatal too