China Plans State-Owned Challenger to Boeing and Airbus

The Airbus 380, the biggest passenger liner in the world, is making its maiden voyage across the Atlantic today, and the aviation press is covering that as well as the announcement by the People’s Republic of China, that it wants a civilian aerospace manufacturing industry. Given the expected rate of growth in Chinese civil aviation, that is no surprise. At the same time, it represents a direct challenge to Airbus and Boeing.

A statement on the PRC’s website said, “The State Council [roughly the Chinese cabinet] meeting believes that building large aircraft is an important, strategic policy of the Communist Party and State Council, and it has also been the wish of the entire nation for many years. Our country has been developing the aviation industry for 50 years, and already has the technical and material base to develop large aircraft.”

The Aviation Industry of China [AVIC] split in 1999 into AVIC I and AVIC II, as both competitors and collaborators. According to Globalsecurity.org, “Generally speaking, AVIC I focuses on large- and medium-sized aircraft while AVIC II gives priority to feeder aircraft and helicopters.” Both produce military craft for the People’s Liberation Army, and have recently received orders for civilian craft. Reuters reports, “AVIC I has secured more than 30 orders for its ARJ21 regional jet, scheduled for commercial operation next year, while AVIC II unit Hafei Aviation Industry makes the ERJ-145 regional craft in partnership with Brazil's Embraer.”

AVIC I and AVIC II already make components for Boeing and Airbus Industries, and they should be able to achieve relatively rapid results if the state planners make civil aviation a priority. That is precisely what the State Council has instructed. The target date for completion of large passenger craft designs is 2010, and the government wants the yet-to-be-established company to be in position to win some of the 2,200 aircraft China will likely buy in the next 20 years.

Aerospace exports are a major component in the US trade [im]balance. Airbus was created by the European Community (as the EU then was) to prevent complete reliance on American technology and suppliers. Airbus now successfully sells its planes in the US. In 20 years, if the American government doesn’t stop it, America’s airlines may well be flying planes made in Communist China.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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