If you look at how relatively few A380s are flying for the European flag carriers and correlate that with the lack of appropriate airport expansion and night curfews at home, is it any surprise that the Gulf operators are winning pax? Europeans living around airports want no noise, no pollution, but when they want to fly to the sun or visit Great Aunt Georgina in Sydney, they'll scour the internet looking for the cheapest deal. And that will more often than not see a one hopper via DXB or SIN. Aviation minded nations that are promoting their carriers rather than artificially strangling growth and therefore airplanes like the A380.
There are enough city pairs that warrant the capacity of the A380, strange that none of the US carries are linking East Coast cities with European capitals with the double-decker.