Chinese Competitor to Airbus

COMAC, in my opinion has started down a road of aircraft manufacturing with hopes of one day surpassing its competitors; Boeing and Airbus. Unfortunately for COMAC it lacks the innovation and reputation that its competitors currently hold. Both Boeing and Airbus have established reputations for themselves over the years as industry leaders for transport category aircraft and have left little room for smaller companies to build up a reputation for themselves. In my opinion the C919 will receive certification but I do not think that it will ever surpass its American and French competitors in the airline industry and eventually will fizzle out similar to a super nova, shine bright die young.

I personally believe that the C919 will pose but a minuscule risk to US carriers. The probability of the major US air carriers transitioning to a Chinese made transport category aircraft is next to none for a variety of reasons such as; negative media due to public perception and also just for their own sake they would rather rely on products with known and proven safety records than something new. For the most part the majority of accidents and incidents do not happen when aircraft are old but rather when they are new and in the initial introduction stage of the products life cycle where there has not been nearly enough testing done to ensure any type of reliability. While major US air carriers probably opt to pass on the Chinese jet it is possible that some of the smaller regional airlines will take advantage of the lower operating cost and implement the jet into their fleet. (Harjani, A.)

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ldt or COMAC is a government owned aircraft manufacturer based out of Shanghai, China with hopes of one day being a major competitor for airline aircraft purchases and adding the C to the major aircraft manufacturing companies (A-B-C) Airbus, Boeing, and then COMAC. Currently there are two airplanes in the process of becoming certificated the C919 and the ARJ21, although the company has aspirations of certificating two more aircraft in the future, the C929 and C939 which are proposed wide body jets. With regard to major competitors to Boeing and Airbus I believe that eventually the Chinese equivalent of the already popular 200 seater jets will be worth noting but it will take a considerable amount of time for the company to build a solid reputation, as with any new company. The likelihood of other manufacturers joining the ranks is up for debate, there is always the possibility for competition but any new manufacturer has to take into consideration that there is some serious competition already available to the market and should be monetarily prepared for this. The fact that the Chinese manufacturer COMAC is backed by the Chinese government is a huge advantage to allowing them to enter the market, where as a privately funded company may never be able to survive the period of time where it is essential for them to build a reputation and stay afloat. 

While researching this topic I was unable to find any significant responses from Airbus or Boeing with regard to their new competitor COMAC. Airbus did however forecast the potential boom in aviation over the next few decades and sees the potential risk involved for their company with regard to a new, cheaper manufacturer. The competitor, COMAC does has a advantage over other manufacturers due to the fact that it is owned by the Chinese government so it definitely has the potential to stick around and build a reputation for itself. With regard to public perception i'm not sure that that specifically will influence the market all that much primarily due to the fact that people are comfortable with Chinese manufacturing to a certain extent. Most people are aware that the majority of our goods come from oversees, specifically China, and that some of the most reliable automobiles on the road are of Chinese descent, such as Honda. The Chinese manufacturer Honda has build a great reputation for themselves in the auto sector and when transitioned to building aircraft it seemed to pan out for them positively with the Honda Jet due to the large amount of orders. (Ostrower, J.)

Harjani, A. (2014, February 12). Made-in-China aircraft to rule skies sooner than you think. Retrieved November 8, 2015, from http://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/12/you-may-fly-on-a-made-in-china-aircraft-sooner-than-you-think.html

Ostrower, J. (2015, March 18). A Closer Look at the Comac C919 - Why Does it Exist? - AirlineReporter. Retrieved November 8, 2015, from http://www.airlinereporter.com/2015/03/closer-look-comac-c919-exist/