Get the latest tech news

Will the China cycle come for Airbus and Boeing?

Noah Smith, author of the economics Substack Noahpinion, often refers to a common trajectory in Chinese manufacturing as the “China Cycle”:

It hasn’t had much success, likely due to some combination of the complexity of commercial aircraft manufacturing, the reluctance of existing firms to give away their critical technologies, and the leverage foreign governments and organizations such as the FAA and EASA have over China’s aerospace industry. Its lack of success is attributed to the poor quality of the aircraft: the ARJ21 has had problems with “dodgy wiring, cracks in the wings, faulty doors and its performance in rain," and it’s outdated compared to the offerings from other regional jet manufacturers like Embraer. Aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia has variously described the ARJ21 as “a miserable aircraft," a “pile of junk," and “a random collection of imported technologies and design features flying together in loose formation," with “technical qualities [that] resemble an aeronautical rhino’s."

Get the Android app