The Russian MC-21 and the Chinese C919 aspire to compete on an equal footing with the leading aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. Both aircraft are narrow-body passengers and are required to be measured in the market with standard aircraft types, such as the highly successful Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. There are experts who consider the MC-21 technologically superior to the 7367 or the A320. And they may not be wrong. The first version of the Boeing 737 dates back to 1967 and the A320 to 1987.
Unlike China, Russia has decades of experience in aeronautics. Since the end of the Cold War, however, Russia has not had any claims planes on the market. Despite the fact that all production units still exist in the largest country in the world, in 2020 only 14 aircraft were built in Russia, which is what Airbus builds in its various factories in just a few days.
MC-21 is composed of 40% synthetic materials
“On paper, the MC-21 performs better than the newer generation Airbus A320neo,” said Nico Buchholz, who has been in charge of the aircraft for years on behalf of German Lufthansa and is familiar with new Russian and Chinese projects. Both he and other experts do not rule out that the Russian aircraft is more economically efficient than Western aircraft. In terms of reliability, we will still have to wait until the summer, when the MC-21s will start flying to Rossiya, a subsidiary of Aeroflot.
The signs of the times are not good for Russian airliners, as they depend on many components made in the West, mainly in terms of engines and synthetic materials. It should be noted that the MC-21 is composed of 40% synthetic materials, a record for this type of aircraft.
Are Chinese Airbus better than European ones?
According to Russian manufacturers, the MC-21 already has 175 orders exclusively from Russian airlines and “a few hundred purchase intentions”. The situation is similar for the Chinese C919, which, like the Russian aircraft, carries 156 to 168 passengers. Almost all new aircraft are destined for the Chinese market. According to German expert Nico Buchholz, “the Chinese market is so large that it can absorb a large number of Chinese passenger aircraft, no matter how many Airbus or Boeing flights in the vast country.”
In addition, China has a comparative advantage over Russia, which may prove crucial to the success of the C919. Nick Buchholz explains: “Because the Chinese have more experience in industrial aircraft production than the Russians, they are able to compete with giants like Boeing and Airbus. Western manufacturers themselves have contributed to this by producing Airbus in China. “The quality of the aircraft was often better than that made in Hamburg.”
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