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
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
July 22, 2009
COMAC ARJ21 Passenger Jet Flies to Xi'An
Late last week the 3rd and longest flight test of China Commercial Aircraft Corp. (COMAC)'s ARJ21 regional narrow body passenger jet was completed between the Shanghai assembly plant and an aerospace center in Xi'An where the ARJ21 will be further refined. COMAC says it has 208 orders for the plane and we will be on pace to deliver 30 in 2011 and 50 in 2012. The first airline set to receive the ARJ21 is Kunpeng Airlines, a regional division of Shenzhen Airlines, formerly part-owned by the troubled Mesa Air Group of Arizona.
Production of the ARJ21 is the first step in China's desire to become a competitor in the global aerospace industry. The ARJ21 competes directly with Embraer of Brazil and Bombadier in Canada. The later stage of the planned evolution is for Chinese big aircraft to be a "big 3" alongside Boeing and Airbus. Development of China's aerospace industry is a win for global business. The ARJ21 supply chain includes many American firms such as GE, the engine supplier, and Goodrich, United Technologies, Rockwell-Collins, Honeywell, Eaton Aerospace, and Alcoa, among others....
Labels: aerospace, avic, free trade, jet planes
February 04, 2009
Air Tanzania Gets Chinese Cash to Buy Planes
The announcement today that Air Tanzania would sell a 49 percent stake to a private Chinese investor - China Sonangol International - was in the works since last August. The company plans to use the cash to buy 9 planes, renovate its airport terminal, and fund operations (the airline was grounded recently). The interesting speculation to me is what planes will it buy - Airbus A320 assembled in Tianjin? The smaller domestic Chinese jet the ARJ21 (first deliveries are expected this year) or made in Europe or USA Airbus or Boeing? The financing is by the China Development Bank which was shored up not to long ago by China's Soverign Wealth Fund the China Investment Corp. Could this be one way of funding your own nation's production and export?
Labels: foreign investment, jet planes, swf
January 29, 2009
Airbus Avicopter JV Deal for A350 Plant in China
The parent company of Europe's Airbus (EADS) will sign a deal with Chinese aerospace firm Avicopter for a factory in Harbin to produce a special carbon-fiber composite, lighter than aluminum, for the delayed A350 plane when Chinese PM Wen Jiabao leaves Davos for Madrid. The A350 is Airbus's response to the Boeing Dreamliner. This is another blow to Boeing's market share in China...
Labels: aerospace, boeing, jet planes
January 15, 2009
Boeing Hit by China Eastern Slowdown
Troubled Chinese airliner China Eastern will defer orders for 15 planes from Airbus and Boeing. The airline already has 20 planes grounded and is divesting itself of subsidiaries in its attempt to stay solvent... Just one year ago, China Eastern agreed to buy 30 Boeing 737s for delivery beginning 2011. How far into the future the deliveries will be defered is unknown. The impact on Boeing jobs will be immediate. Outright cancellation of the planes is possible, particulary if China Eastern liquidates.
Labels: boeing, jet planes
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 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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