China will threaten airframe status quo

The world’s largest airframers see China’s domestic OEMs as distinct threats to their future market domination.

John Bruns, Boeing’s VP China operations, says it is naïve for anyone to think that Boeing and Airbus will remain the only dominant forces in the large airframe sector, although they “It will be natural for China to get into this industry and there will be a lot of spin-off benefits for them.

If China enters as a competitor, we will welcome it, as competition is always better for the customer – it pushes everyone on to do better. However, I think it is too early for China to be talking about introducing its large aircraft programme –“we’ll see how the regional jet programme develops first”.

Airbus China’s president Laurence Barron concurs: “You cannot sell billions of dollars of aircraft in a market like China without it being a two-way relationship. China’s aviation market is developing fast now. Not long ago factories were only building to print, but they are becoming far more advanced. The factory we are using to build our wing structure is producing at a quality that is at least as good as that produced in Europe. They will undoubtedly look to go into this area.”

Source: Flight Daily News