China Is starting to get into the production of aircraft. It seems that this has occured way to late in the game as China has a major stake in many US companies including the Boeing Company. The linked article, although old from 2008, states that Chinas government has put into action plans to produce a large number of aircraft that are scheduled to be rolling off the production line in 2020.
Although China will be manufacturing these new aircraft, In my mind they are going to have a major dilema, a sort of war if you will, between Airbus Industrie and Boeing. Currently China produces components for Boeing including the wide model bodies such as the 787. China also has a final production line for the Airbus A320. This brings me back to a previous post I have made on a war between Airbus and Boeing, one that will, maybe, run one of the two companies out of business, and this might be something that accelerates that process. IF china choses to go with boeing, as they already have the knowledge on component production for the 787 and other models, airbus may lose their final production line in China, causing orders for the A320 to slow, and since that is the most popular plane, cause Airbus to take a major financial hit. On the flip side. If they decide to go with Airbus. Boeing will lose production on many components for cheap (as we know products made in China are generally at a cheaper cost), and with losses eminent on 787 components, Boeing may go out of business.
Although this does not directly influence the US economy and US business. We may face some indirect consequences. One of the biggest would be layoffs of hundres of employees. The reason being is that this May lead to cheaper production outside of the US for Boeing products (or french if you go with airbus). This will be largely to outsourcing or capital and jobs to China. However these jobs will be made up in more pilot jobs being available in the Chinese / Japanese Theatre. More planes = more pilots that need to be hired to fly them, and maybe even new airlines poping up. So although some production jobs may be lost due to outsourcing, new flight jobs and management careers may pop up and be available to the people who are graduating with aviation degrees soon.
In closing. I think it is a great idea that China will producing aircraft for what will most likely be cheaper. I will gladly take losses in jobs in the manufacturing sector if it means more job opportunities for pilots and aviation management students.
Although the 2008 article as some good info, there are more current articles available about this topic. I am slightly confused about your discussion of how China's production may run Boeing or Airbus out of business. Do you mean via direct competition from the production of their own aircraft? From what I gathered from your post, I think you are referring more to the idea that China may stop supplying one company, either Boeing or Airbus. But there is no valid reason (at least in your discussion) why they couldn't continue to be a supplier for both companies.
ReplyDeleteWith every action they take with jobs in aviation, there will always be that flexibility of needing more pilots and management, to needing more manufacturing jobs. It doesn't directly help the US but the opportunities are out there.
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