Chinese competitor to Boeing and Airbus makes international debut — RT Business News
China’s homegrown passenger jet, the C919, made its inaugural flight outside China on Sunday at the Singapore Airshow. The airliner, which took to the skies for its first commercial flight in May, has so far only been authorized to fly in its home country.
The single-aisle jet, manufactured by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), could become the newest challenger to the commercial aviation duopoly of Boeing and Airbus, industry experts say. …
The C919 is “not very different” from what Airbus and Boeing already have in the market, Christian Scherer, chief executive officer of Airbus’s commercial aircraft business, was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the air show by CNBC. It is “not going to rock the boat in particular,” Scherer claimed. …
This new plane is apparently comparable in performance to the 40-year old Airbus 320 or the 60-year old Boeing 737 – but price? It will certainly undercut the prices of Airbus & Boeing, and will be well-positioned to grab a big slice of the Asian market, which is where much of future growth is expected to occur. That would be predicted to “rock the boat”.
Hard to remember there was a time when the US led the world in aircraft construction, steel manufacturing, shipbuilding, computer chips. A smart Political Class would have woken up long before now.