SOUTH KOREA IS trying salvage plans to develop a new 100-seat passenger aircraft in co-operation with China, following the renewal of direct industry-level discussions between the countries.
A Samsung Aerospace team, led by vice-president Yu Moo-Sung, has met Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) in Beijing, in an effort to overcome a five-month long impasse in negotiations. South Korea wants to reach an agreement before a ministerial summit with China scheduled for late June.
Negotiations between AVIC and the Samsung-led Korean Commercial-Aircraft Development Consortium (KCDC) stalled at the end of 1995 over demands for a South Korean production line. South Korea has since found itself sidelined.
AVIC has signed a memorandum of understanding for Singapore Technologies Aerospace (STAE) to join its AE-100 regional-jet programme. It is in the final stages of selecting a Western partner, with no apparent reference to KCDC and a 1994 agreement on co-operation and joint consultation.
Sources close to the talks say that South Korea has now dropped demands for a production line and is prepared to settle for a minimum stake of not less than 20%.
Accommodating a South Korean interest could still prove a challenge. AVIC is thought to want 40%, while its likely Western partner, Aero International (Regional) and Airbus is demanding 39%, with 10% reserved for Singapore.
The scramble for shares in the programme has been complicated by Taiwan Aerospace asking for a 5-10% stake, although AVIC is understood to have suggested that Taiwanese involvement be channelled through STAe.
Competition to power the AE-100 is also intensifying, with Rolls-Royce having concluded a new joint venture deal with AVIC and Xian Aero Engine. The agreement provides for a new production centre in Xian to be built by 1998.
The joint venture will be capable of producing nozzle guide-vanes and turbine blades for the RB.211-535, Trent, Tay and BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 series engines. BMW R-R is proposing an underwing version of the BR715 for the AE-100. It faces strong competition from CFM International, offering the CFM56-9, and Pratt & Whitney, with its recently unveiled PW6000.
Source: Flight International
