Hasbara Buster
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Which countries are likely to buy them first? Initially the internal Chinese market of course, and then the rest of the Asia-Pacific?
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Which countries are likely to buy them first?
Which countries are likely to buy them first? Initially the internal Chinese market of course, and then the rest of the Asia-Pacific?
http://www.economist.com/news/busin...looks-chinas-attempt-break-airbus-and-boeings
New aircraft
China dreams of breaking the Boeing-Airbus duopoly
But like Canada and Russia, it is discovering how hard this is
SINCE the 1990s the global market for full-sized commercial airliners has been a duopoly. The market, which by some estimates will be worth $4.6 trillion over the next 20 years, is dominated by Airbus, a European firm, and Boeing, its American competitor.
In theory, at least, airlines will soon have a wider choice of planes. On November 2nd COMAC, a Chinese state-owned aircraft manufacturer, revealed its C919 plane (pictured), a competitor to Airbus’s A320 and Boeing’s 737, the two most popular planes in the skies. COMAC says the C919 will have its maiden flight next year—two years later than first scheduled—and will enter service around 2019. The Chinese are not the only ones who think they can break the duopoly. After several delays, Irkut, part of Russia’s state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), hopes to launch its MC-21 aircraft, another potential rival to the 737 and A320, into service in 2017.
Many aviation analysts remain sceptical about whether these rivals, even with generous state backing, will ever put a significant dent in the bulging order books of Airbus and Boeing. Although the Russians and the Chinese may well be good at designing aircraft, they have little experience in creating the hugely complex production systems and supply chains needed to build them to the extremely high standards of reliability and safety that airlines expect. The need to improve their safety record will ensure that they are “not a near-term risk” for the likes of Boeing, according to Jason Gurksy, an aerospace-industry analyst at Citigroup.
Even Canada’s Bombardier, which has a good record of safety and quality for the smaller aircraft that it makes, has struggled to break into this lucrative market. Fewer than 250 of its much-delayed CSeries planes have been ordered. By contrast, Boeing has already delivered almost 5,600 of the 737 and has orders for a further 4,200. It emerged recently that Bombardier had tried unsuccessfully to sell a stake in the project to Airbus. On October 29th Bombardier announced that the provincial government of Quebec, where the firm is based, would pay $1 billion for a stake of 49.5% in the CSeries, whose development has so far cost Bombardier $5.4 billion.
Incumbents are just as hard to dislodge in the market for smaller “regional” jets (ones with up to around 100 seats), which is dominated by Bombardier and Embraer of Brazil, but which COMAC, UAC’s Sukhoi subsidiary and Mitsubishi of Japan are all trying to break into. COMAC’s regional jet, the ARJ21, had its first test flight in 2008, but because of concerns about cracks in its wings and dodgy wiring it has still not been certified for commercial flights in America. Mitsubishi’s MRJ and Sukhoi’s Superjet were also delayed by technical problems. The Superjet is now in service with a handful of airlines, though orders have been sparse; and the MRJ is expected to make its maiden flight shortly, possibly this month.
Even the giants of the industry find that it is not easy to get an entirely new aircraft design off the ground. The research-and-development costs for Boeing’s newest aircraft project, the 787 Dreamliner, grew to $28 billion as a result of problems with its supply chain and its electronics. And revenues from Airbus’s newest aircraft, the giant A380, hardly cover its production costs, never mind the capital sunk into its development. If even the industry’s two dominant firms find it a long, expensive struggle to get a new aircraft design in the sky, no wonder their would-be rivals are having such a hard time.
That's cheap.Spring Airlines launches Wuhan-Tokyo service
Xinhua, February 13, 2016
Chinese budget carrier Spring Airlines on Saturday launched direct flights between Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, and Tokyo of Japan.
The service is operated by a 189-seat Boeing 737-800 owned by the Japanese subsidiary of Spring Airlines every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, said Wu Jiajie, head of the Wuhan subsidiary of Spring Airlines.
The 3.5-hour trip costs less than 1,000 yuan (152 U.S. dollars), lower than half of full prices offered by other airlines.
As many Chinese traveled to Japan during the Spring Festival, air fares soared to more than 5,000 yuan, according to Spring Tour (Wuhan).
Spring Airlines opened Wuhan-Osaka route in July 2014. The second direct service to Japan will bring convenience to Chinese tourists to Japan, said Wu.
@AndrewJin , @Nihonjin1051
I will mark your wordsMark my Word today.
In the Future, COMAC will be as Big as Boeing and Airbus We know today !
Mark my Word today.
In the Future, COMAC will be as Big as Boeing and Airbus We know today !