When the rubber hits the runway

“This is an important step for our business in China and through MSAT we are confident that we can provide better service to our customers,” declared Frank Moreau, president of Michelin’s aircraft tyre branch.

Michelin’s belief in the Chinese aviation market is reflected in predictions by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which expects there to be an increase of more than 4,500 civilian aircraft over the next 20 years. By the year 2030, China’s share of the global aircraft fleet will increase from 9 per cent to 15 per cent. That may even be conservative, given Boeing as recently as September raised it’s 20-year forecast for China to 6,810 planes, a projection that if realised will make it the world’s first trillion-dollar market for new jets. That’s a lot of wheels and a lot of tyres.

Interestingly, the business of supplying tyres to global airlines is dominated by just four manufacturers which control 85 per cent of the market. They are Michelin, Goodyear in the United States, Dunlop in the United Kingdom and Bridgestone in Japan. Michelin alone, headquartered in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand, is present in about 170 countries, has 111,700 employees and operates 68 production facilities in 17 countries, which together produced 184 million aviation tyres last year.

There used to be another major player, Japan’s Yokohama Rubber, which had been manufacturing aircraft tyres since 1940 but shut down its operations and made no more deliveries after 2009. Incredibly, the decision was taken because its sales were low – just US$8 million in the 2008-9 fiscal year – and it assessed the future outlook of the industry as “lacking in strong growth”. Given the way airline expansion is occurring in the region it must be one of the biggest corporate “oops” moments of recent times.

Today, there are several smaller players, particularly in China, but they tend to be specialised and focused on niche markets. For example, the Guilin-based Guilin Lanyu Aircraft Tire Development Company, a subsidiary of ChemChina that was founded in 1980, produces tyres mainly for military use such as on the Su-27 fighter. Then there is Qingdao, Shandong-based Sentury (repeat Sentury) Tire which manufactures tyres for the Boeing 737.

While the cost of a new tyre for the big jets might appear high it should be remembered that they get retreaded four or five times and retreading – almost exclusively done by the Big Four – is half the price of a new tyre. The tyres are inflated with nitrogen, not with air like your typical car. This is because nitrogen can withstand extreme temperatures and won’t combust due to the intense friction which occurs during landing. Of course the life of a tyre depends on the number of takeoffs and landings and varies with the type of aircraft. But on average the tyre will see 250-300 landings, which can be anywhere between a week and three weeks depending on the type of operation. In contrast, tyres on military aircraft usually need to be changed anywhere between 20 and 50 landings, depending on whether land or aircraft carrier-based.

But as with aircraft themselves, tyre manufacturers are continually working to improve the product and its performance to increase the life of a tyre and the number of times it can be retreaded, as well as producing “smart” tyres that let the cockpit know everything about how they are performing or what problems there may be.

Oh, and just in case you need to place an order, the main gear tyres on an A380 are 1400x530R23 – some 1. 4m high and 53cm wide.

Each tyre is changed after approximately 180 landings.