Comac achieved two milestones at the end of 2022. On the one hand, the Chinese aircraft manufacturer delivered the first example of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 competitor Comac C919 after a long delay.
On the other hand, the manufacturer handed over an ARJ21 regional jet to a foreign airline customer for the first time.
But Airbus sales manager Christian Scherer is not afraid of any major competition from the current Comac models.
He told the FAZ that it was “very legitimate for a nation like China to want to build up its technological sovereignty, just like the Europeans did with Airbus 50 years ago”.
However, “I think the Chinese made a mistake in not bringing anything new to the market.”
The Airbus manager means that Comac’s jets have not yet brought any technological advances that would put existing aircraft manufacturers under pressure.
Airbus started with the A300 in the 1970s to break the aviation dominance of the USA. The model was the world’s first twin-engine wide-bodied aircraft.
Scherer made it clear that Airbus is still taking on the challenge from China for the future. “We are by no means ignoring the Chinese,” emphasized the manager. But the world market is still growing. “One point of GDP growth is two points of air traffic,” says Scherer. “So there’s room for everyone to grow.”
This article was written by Timo Nowack
The original of this article “Airbus sales manager reveals mistakes made by Chinese competitor” comes from aeroTelegraph.
