February 02, 2010
Boeing 737 - Airbus A320 - Comac C919
Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China or COMAC debuted the C919 today at the Singapore Air Show. The C919 is China's aerospace industry's challenge to the world's best selling passenger jets, the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. Already COMAC claims it has 100 orders for the planes and hopes to sell 2,000 over the next 20 years. With China's recent airplane leasing activity it is possible many airlines may fly the C919 before long. Critics claim the C919 is a way for Chinese airlines to get away from reliance on Boeing, for years the USA's number 1 exporter. Although entirely designed and built in China there are great benefits for US companies to supply C919 production. GE has a multibillion dollar deal to supply engines and Honeywell will supply electronic controls for the cockpits....
Labels: aerospace, aircraft, boeing, foreign trade, jet planes
January 27, 2010
Chinese Skies: Southwest, British Airways Jets Financed by China
Airbus announced an agreement today with CDB Leasing, a leading leasing company in China, to cooperate in financing and leasing of Airbus jet planes worldwide. Under the agreement CDB Leasing will arrange financing solutions to airlines to buy Airbus planes. CDB Leasing is majority owned by Beijing's China Development Bank. Chinese banks are playing an increasingly important part in passenger plane financing. Already big Chinese banks including Bank of China and Commercial and Industrial Bank have financed planes operated by Southwest Airlines and British Airways. Reflect on that the next time you board....
Labels: aircraft, financial news, foreign relations, jet planes
November 09, 2009
Chinese Fighter Jets to Have Stealth Capability
Dressed in a crisp but drab army green Mao jacket, Chinese President Hu Jintao observed the 60th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Air Force on Sunday. Hu called for a new era in Chinese fighter jet technology. He Weirong, Lieutenant General of the PLA Air Force said on Chinese television the air force would have stealth capability within 8 to 10 years. China continues to develop the J-10 its indegenous fighter jet that is considered similar but inferior to the American F-16. China exports the J-10 and has a joint venture with Pakistan to build an updated version, the J-10B. Even with new capabilities Chinese fighter planes are well behind the USA and Russia. Only the USA has a so-called fifth generation fighter in service, the F22 Raptor, produced for the Pentagon by perennial military-industrial-complex suppliers Lockheed-Martin and Boeing. The USA is further ahead with developing the F-22 Lightning II while Russia is placing its hopes on the T-50 tactical fighter....
Labels: aircraft, high-tech, military-industrial complex, technology
October 21, 2009
China Buys Euro Aircraft Technologies
The Xi'An Aircraft Industry Group, part of China's AVIC conglomerate, will acquire FACC AG an Austrian company that specializes in composite components. FACC has an active research and development focus and already supplies COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China) as well as Airbus and Boeing. The deal is meant to give Xi'An Aircraft access to FACC's new technologies and potential control over its supply capacity a strategic move as China further develops its aerospace industry....
Labels: aerospace, aircraft, foreign investment
September 08, 2009
China's Challenge to Boeing, Airbus Revealed
The China Commercial Aircraft Corp. or COMAC, a division of the big state-controlled AVIC conglomerate, revealed its challenger to Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 planes at the Asian Aerospace International Expo in Hong Kong today: the C919. The mid-range jet plane will seat 190-200 passengers with deliveries (to domestic buyers currently) by 2016. Parts suppliers are not finalized but GE is in discussions to provide the engines. GE already supplies engines for the smaller ARJ-21 in production....
Labels: aircraft, avic, boeing, jet planes
January 21, 2009
Chinese Airlines Further Consolidation?
The WSJ reports that China Eastern will get 10 billion Yuan from Shanghai Pudong Bank and rumours are China's airline industry regulator wants to see further consolidation as many small private airlines cannot survive in the global downturn. China Eastern stock (CEA) on the New York Stock Exchange is up on the news...
Labels: aircraft
December 01, 2008
ARJ21 is no Y-10
The ARJ21 700 series regional passenger jet produced by the China Commercial Aircraft Corp. or COMAC successfully made its maiden flight test over the weekend in Shanghai. The ARJ21 seats around 78 passengers and already has several orders including a big purchase by GE - the license holder of the aircraft’s jet engines.
This is not the first time the Chinese have made a passenger jet plane. Back in 1980 the Y-10 made its maiden flight and several were produced for domestic use. For years the rumour has been that the Y-10 was a reverse engineered Boeing 707 a model China began buying in 1972. For many reasons some of them political the Y-10 was never successful.
Today the aerospace industry like every facet of Chinese society and economy is profoundly different. State-controlled COMAC, based in Shanghai, is envisioned as traded public company sometime in the medium to long term and plans to focus next on large commercial jet planes similar in size to the A320 or Boeing 737. The roll out for the larger jets is expected sometime between 2016 and 2020. COMAC could become real competition to Europe and Boeing after that.
The ARJ21 sells for about $30 million each and GE says it should be certified for use in the USA as soon as 2010.
Labels: aircraft, boeing, jet planes
November 17, 2008
Chinese Airlines May Get Bailout
An anonymous source at China Southern Airlines confirmed to the Shanghai Securities News that the company was seeking a cash injection from China's central government. Unconfirmed reports are that Air China and China Eastern are also seeking a bailout from Beijing. China Eastern has grounded 10% of its fleet as Chinese cut back severely on air travel.
Labels: aircraft, financial crisis, panic of 2008
November 06, 2008
AVIC I & II In Massive Merger of Aerospace Industry
The long anticipated consolidation and reorganization of China's aerospace industries is underway with a huge merger of the AVIC I and AVIC II conglomerates. The new single AVIC will be a temporary holding company with several big entities that most likely will each be spun off as independent public companies. The new AVIC is interested in a foreign acquisition possibly a European maker of small to medium size jet planes and AVIC may issue shares. The new AVIC consists of:
Transport Aircraft Corp.
Indepenent supplier expected to compete with Airbus and Boeing for production of Chinese large jets by CACC (COMAC) - see below.
Will own non-defense AVIC assets in Xi'An, Chengdu, Shenyang
"Defense Division"
All military related assets and production centers.
Assigned defense assets in Chengdu, Shenyang, Xi'An, and the military businesses of the Hongdu Aviation Industry Group.
AVICopter
Helicopter makers in Harbin, Changhe and Jingdezhen and other locations.
Aviation Engine Industry Corp.
Containing engine makers and research centers located in Liming, Xi'An, Chengdu, Zhuzhou, and China Gas Turbine of Jiangyou, Sichuan.
General Aviation Company
Production centers at Guizhou and Shijiazhuang of medium size planes.
Aviation Systems Company
Made up of dozens of prototype factories and research institutes across China including those located in Xi'An, Shanghai, and Nanjing.
Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (CACC)
Will become largely independent and rebranded COMAC.
The company will be the Chinese brand challenger to Boeing and Airbus.
And COMAC just got its first big order - 25 Chinese made ARJ21 jets - from GE.
Watch these businesses in the near to medium future. This is big new competition from China in an industry considered a "first world" prerogative.
Labels: aerospace, aircraft, avic, globalization, jet planes, military-industrial complex
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