Qantas A388 enroute on Nov 4th 2011, engine shut down in flight

The ultimate in fuel savings?

It just said shut down due to low oil quantity...it wasn't a failure, more just a precaution.

Airbus has built a wonderful aircraft that can withstand such an engine failure. One cannot totally blame airbus for this incident as they did not build the engine. Anyway it is better to be safe than sorry as if these engine related incidents occur too frequently it may tarnish their good image.

I'm sure this happens to all sorts of aircraft all the time, just because the A380 is high profile, it's mentioned more rapidly in the mainstream press...

Well, while not an everyday occurrence, they are not totally uncommon. In this case it was a broke wire and bolt that allowed the oil to drain.Now, While I am a Boeing man and won't miss a chance to swipe at Airbus, this ain't an Airbus thing as the engines are maintained by Rolls Royce and not the Qantas engine shop, and that is also a source of contention in the current union negotiations.

Boeing is better

I don't think it's your imagination, unfortunately. I wonder what's up? These incidents are normally very very rare.

Was it a maintenence issue??

The pilots can do all. Will.