Add aircraft manufacturing to China’s list of another stimulus to its industry plan. China plans to have aircraft designed and manufactured to rival Boeing and Airbus rolling off assembly lines by 2020. According to an article by Autopia, the Chinese government approved the launch of Chinese Commercial Aircrafts back in 2008. Asian airlines are expected to buy 10,000 aircraft in the next 20 years, with 2,200 of those going to Chinese airlines.
China’s State-owned aircraft manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), unveiled the first look at its new C919 narrow body aircraft at the Hong Kong Air Show in late Aug-2009, announcing details of the aircraft that it hopes will reduce China’s reliance on foreign aircraft and challenge the global duopoly enjoyed by Airbus and Boeing. Comac, formed in Jan-2009 with USD2.7 billion in assets, will design, develop and build the aircraft, which it hopes will be a landmark for the Chinese aerospace industry, similar to the A300 for Airbus and the E145 for Embraer.
China has been pressing for years with ambitions of creating its own aircraft manufacturing industry. They have progressing with several small commercial aircraft products, but are also currently the home to the only Airbus manufacturing plant outside of Europe since 2008. An article from CAPA Centre For Aviation explains this in good detail and the plans Airbus has for China currently and in the future, as well as China’s plans for its own industry. Airbus is pushing aircraft manufacturing in China due to cost advantages, and that both Airbus and Boeing forecast China as the single largest national market for narrow body aircraft over the next two decades. The problem that may arise for COMAC and China is matching the bottom line for its local and international customers to the extent that Boeing and Airbus already does. Comac’s assistant GM still admits they have a long way to go in relation to those competitors.
If China is successful in growing it’s aircraft manufacturing industry to the level of the US or one day surpassing it, it will change the competition all over the globe. China is one of the largest customers for these US and European companies when it comes to purchases, manufacturing their own models with the possibility of being more cost effective and efficient will save their economy money and attract customers from other nations as well, adding to their assets. This could hurt customer relationships with US and European companies such as Boeing and Airbus ability to do business with nations more satisfied with what China has to offer.
As well as with any other growing industry, employment opportunities will continue to pop up. China is still behind where it would like to be in comparison to other global aircraft manufacturers, but not so much in the economic scheme. As their economy continues grow rapidly, along with their airline and air transport industry, China will need experienced managers to incorporate successful plans into these businesses. As the number of aircraft in operation increase in the coming years, so will the pilots required to support those operations.
One of the better discussion about manufacturing that I have read. However, these are weak links. The first link is dated and the second link took me to an abstract rather than a full article.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how C919 will sell in other countries. If the aircraft is a success it should be interesting to see if Comac develops a wide-body aircraft or if they still with smaller aircraft. Who knows maybe they will someday make a run at breaking Airbus and Boeing’s strangle hold on the market.
ReplyDeleteWe found the same information. My question to you is how do you think Chinas entrance into the manufacturing market will either help or hinder Either the Airbus and Boeing companies? China has a stake in both. Do you think it will favor one or the other?.
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