Giants on the move

But what about the names United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Irkut and Comac? While recognition of those brands may be as high as Boeing and Airbus among Russians and Chinese, it is fair to say that they would barely register among Westerners without some connection, no matter how tenuous, to the aircraft industry or the economics flowing from it.

Plus, how many would know that Mitsubishi, so familiar to us for the cars we drive, is now also in the business of civil aircraft manufacture?

A new generation of giants outside the Boeing-Airbus duopoly is stirring and while those brands may be unfamiliar right now there is little doubt that is about to change thanks to some mind-boggling numbers attached to investment in concept and build.

Russia has been in the civil aviation manufacturing business for just as many years as the West, of course, based mainly as an offshoot of its development of huge numbers of military aircraft post-World War II, through the Cold War and subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union. Names such as Tupolev, Ilyushin, Yakolev, Sukhoi and Antonov have a more familiar resonance in both the military and civilian space.

Each, with Irkut, is a forebear of UAC, formed by the Russian Government in 2006 and we are now seeing the fruits of that merger with first flights of the Irkut MC-21, a potential contender to both the A320 and 737.

In China, civilian rather than military aircraft development is a more modern concept. The X’ian Aircraft Corporation has been making turboprop airliners since the turn of the century, but in terms of a genuinely emerging challenge to the majors, all eyes are on Comac.

The Shanghai-based manufacturer has established its ARJ21 regional jet as a short-haul standard-bearer among Chinese airlines and is in the test phase with its C919, a potential competitor, certainly within Asia, to the A320neo and troubled 737 MAX. The narrowbody market is active indeed.

Now, for the first time, there are stirrings in the widebody space that are making Boeing and Airbus sit up and take notice, not least because they combine the power of both Russia and China. The joint venture between UAC and Comac, known as CRAIC, is seeing development of the CR929 widebody with a pitch aimed at the 787, A330 and A350.

Underlying all this is the irony that some of the success of developments to date is down to co-operation and supply agreements with Western manufacturers on airframes, componentry and close to all the engine power.

It was only a month ago that Australian Aviation spoke with Kathy MacKenzie, General Manager of the GEnx engine product line which powers 65 per cent of current 787 fleets worldwide, as well as the 747-8.

She said there was no other widebody under development right now suited to the GEnx other than the CR929 and that she and her team are already in discussion with Comac about providing the powerplant.

They won’t have it all their own way. Russia has announced it is investing more than a billion dollars in pursuit of a competing engine capable of powering the widebody, while the Chinese are also targeting local production of their own competitor.

Watch this space.

And in the meantime, flick to Tom Ballantyne’s examination of the Game of Frames.
ABOVE: A forward fuselage “full size” mockup of the UAC-Comac joint venture CR929. COMAC

‘Russia is investing a billion dollars in pursuit of an engine’