China’s Comac gets a chance to narrow gap with Airbus and Boeing
The coronavirus pandemic has upended the boom in global air travel that fueled the fortunes of Boeing and Airbus over the past two decades. But as they lose orders and cut staff, the Chinese aerospace company hoping to challenge them is seeing an opening. On July 10, Air China Flight 1109 took off from Beijing for a city in Inner Mongolia, the first time the country’s flag carrier flew a plane made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (known as Comac), the state-owned manufacturer that until then had only managed to provide planes to third-tier carriers such as Genghis Khan Airlines. China Southern introduced a Comac aircraft a few days later. With Covid-19 paralyzing air travel and tensions rising between China and the West over issues including Hong Kong’s democracy movement, state-backed Comac may finally have an opportunity to start narrowing the gap with Western manufacturers, which have seen their finances pummeled during the pandemic. The coronavirus crisis “could be one of those things that alters the playing field substantially,” says Robert Spingarn, an analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG. “While aerospace companies are busy putting out the fires of today, somebody else who doesn’t have those concerns and is under less pressure may be able to make something happen.” Story has more.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-07-23/general/china2019s-comac-gets-a-chance-to-narrow-gap-with-airbus-and-boeing
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China’s Comac gets a chance to narrow gap with Airbus and Boeing
The coronavirus pandemic has upended the boom in global air travel that fueled the fortunes of Boeing and Airbus over the past two decades. But as they lose orders and cut staff, the Chinese aerospace company hoping to challenge them is seeing an opening. On July 10, Air China Flight 1109 took off from Beijing for a city in Inner Mongolia, the first time the country’s flag carrier flew a plane made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (known as Comac), the state-owned manufacturer that until then had only managed to provide planes to third-tier carriers such as Genghis Khan Airlines. China Southern introduced a Comac aircraft a few days later. With Covid-19 paralyzing air travel and tensions rising between China and the West over issues including Hong Kong’s democracy movement, state-backed Comac may finally have an opportunity to start narrowing the gap with Western manufacturers, which have seen their finances pummeled during the pandemic. The coronavirus crisis “could be one of those things that alters the playing field substantially,” says Robert Spingarn, an analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG. “While aerospace companies are busy putting out the fires of today, somebody else who doesn’t have those concerns and is under less pressure may be able to make something happen.” Story has more.<br/>
