The B744 was recertified as a new type and not a variant of the old classic. Airbus has yet to produce a good airplane period. Airplanes certified many years ago neither had the luxury of CAD/CAM as they do now. Still with all the gee whizz stuff at their disposal now, the French can't produce a decent airplane.
PS. In my years of flying the 4, not so much as an hours delay because of a technical. AOG? not in the 400's vocab! 380 - Pile of crap!