
First large airliner made in China to debut in 2017 - protomok
https://www.rt.com/business/376465-china-first-passenger-plane-2017/
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jff
By 'made in China', they mean 'built the fuselage and wings, bought all the
hard parts from America and France':

[https://perennialinvesting.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/112.p...](https://perennialinvesting.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/112.png)

But hey, they finally managed to make a ballpoint pen so they'll probably be
making their own jet engines any day now:
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18/finally-
china-manufactures-a-ballpoint-pen-all-by-itself/)

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bgee
Putting the fact that system integration itself is a difficult task aside, I
believe part of the reason of buying components from European and American
manufacturers is to help pass FAA regulations.

On a side note, since you posted that figure, how many components of a Boeing
787 are made by a US company[0]? =)

[0]: [http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-dreamliner-
structu...](http://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-dreamliner-structure-
suppliers-2013-10)

Disclaimer: Chinese here.

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touristtam
Seeing the name Latecoere here (manufacturing aircraft door) makes me happy
and sad at the same time. Thanks for the link, it was enlightning.

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robk
I think I'd rather wait 5-10 years for a new airline company to build track
record w/ large jets before booking a flight on this aircraft.

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nayuki
Yeah. Does anybody else suspect that when a Chinese airline experiences an
accident, the authorities will treat it the same way as the high-speed train
crash of 2011 and bury the evidence the next day?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenzhou_train_collision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenzhou_train_collision)

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dx034
The C919 is not a large airliner. The capacity of 160 people is smaller than
the most sold single-aisle aircrafts (A320/B737-8). It's a large regional
aircraft, competing with the C300 and will mainly be used for feeder or to
serve small cities.

I don't want to downplay the importance of the release, but this aircraft is
not a competitor for the duopoly between Airbus and Boeing for passenger
aircrafts >200 pax. The market this aircraft operates in has far more
competitors.

The real revolution could begin if they are able to deliver a real competitor
for the A320/B737-8, which seem to be the cheapest to fly <6hrs, considering
all costs.

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Arnt
What's the difference between this and a large airliner?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320_family#Variants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320_family#Variants)
says the A320 exists in 100-220 seat variants. The A330 starts at 250 or so.
Is there a technology gap around that size, is that what you're saying?

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nolok
> Is there a technology gap around that size, is that what you're saying?

Yes, both a technological cap and a manufacturing gap.

It's not just the size that's the issue, but the fact that the resulting plane
must be fuel efficient. That's a very important factor that made a lot of
damage to the A380 for example; it wasn't fuel efficient enough and many of
its customers (middle east airlines) told Airbus they won't buy more until
Airbus update it with better engines.

Given that proper Engines manufacturing are also the issue for their fighter
jets, it's easy to understand why China tries to get its end on any tech it
can tech in that field (see: the old Tupolev and its tech they're buying from
Ukraine, all the russian airframe they keep buying in small numbers, ...)

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TorKlingberg
It is strange that there is no large Asian aircraft manufacturer. I wonder
why.

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xbmcuser
Cost both european and Us aircraft industries have been built on trillions of
dollars of subsidies o(in today's $) over decades which no country let alone a
company can now match.

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touristtam
And on the other hand China (and other big countries) haven't been able to
invest at the same time (for a reason or another).

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xbmcuser
China has risen as global economy in the last 20 years or so only. They did
not have the resources earlier. Where as Boeing and now what is Airbus started
from the earliest time of passenger aircraft in early 1930s-40s. To build
everything needed to build passenger planes from the ground up would take
resources that no one can match today. And even if they do because of
regulatory blockades of USA and Europe no Airline would be willing to buy such
an aircraft so civilian aircraft are hard to build even harder to sell. Where
as military aircraft China will probably match US in the next decade or so.

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arwhatever
Well I do know that they can build a mean quadcopter.

