Business Channel 2007-03-23&25

China has never hidden its desire to become a major force in the aviation and aerospace¹ industries. And Sunday’s announcement that it plans to challenge Airbus and Boeing’s current duopoly by building big passenger jets isn’t exactly a shock.

I don’t think it is any surprise that the Chinese are saying that they are going to build their own aircraft in due course. But I think it would be at least a couple of decades before they have an aircraft that makes any meaningful dent² in the market, and quite possibly several decades.

To help realize the ambition; China can draw on technical expertise³ developed over 50 years. It has already demonstrated /remarkable ability for replicating⁴ complex, highly technical manufacturing systems. The first homegrown Chinese jetliner, the medium range ARJ-21 Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century, should start to roll off the production line later this year. China expects to sell 300 of the 100-seater planes to Chinese customers over the next 20 years. There are 71 firm orders from smaller domestic carriers, and China intends to target export markets in Asia, Africa and South America.

China is the world’s second largest market for planes outside the US. Sales are booming as the country’s airlines race to meet the surge in demand for domestic air travel. According to a leading London consultancy, Boeing currently leads the way in China with a 64% market share. But Airbus is closing the gap. Both companies have invested heavily there, manufacturing parts in the country and transferring technical know-how⁵.

The technological⁶ lead in the West is absolutely enormous at the moment. It is not just in building aircraft, it is in providing engines for aircraft for example. And that is an incredibly difficult engineering task to do, and a lot of that technology came out of the military in the first place, it is really inconceivable, that in any kind of foreseeable time frame, that the Chinese will be building their own engines which will be economically competitive with those coming out of the West.

There will be decades before China can realize its ambition to mount a serious, big jet challenge to the global dominance of Boeing and Airbus. But with more than a trillion dollars in plane sales expected globally in the next 20 years, it's easy to see why China is keen to get on board.

Notes:

1. duopoly

A situation in which two companies own all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service.

This is very similar to a monopoly, where only one company dominates the market.

2. Boeing

Boeing is the 800-pound gorilla⁷ of US aerospace. The world's largest aerospace company, Boeing is also the #2 maker⁸ of large commercial jets (having fallen behind bitter rival Airbus) and the #2 defense⁹ contractor¹⁰ behind Lockheed Martin. Boeing has two major segments: Commercial Airplanes and Integrated Defense Systems. Boeing's commercial aircraft include the 787 Dreamliner (due in 2008), 767, 747, and the 737; military aircraft include the F/A-18 Hornet, the F-15 Eagle, the C-17 Globemaster III transport, and the AH-64D Apache helicopter. Boeing's space operations include communications satellites, missiles, the International Space Station, and the Space Shuttle (with Lockheed).

3. Airbus

Airbus S.A.S. is the aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS N.V., a pan-European aerospace concern. Based at Toulouse, France with significant operations in other European nations, Airbus produces around half of the world's jet airliners¹¹, with most of the rest built by rival Boeing Commercial Airplanes, though the precise share varies on an annual basis.

1 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

2 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

3 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

4 replicating   

复制( replicate的现在分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Applications create these partitions for storing and replicating data. 应用程序创建这些分区用来储存和复制数据。
• The closest real things to these creatures were bits of self-replicating RNA. 最贴近这些造物的实物是能做一点微不足道的自复制的核糖核酸。

5 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

6 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

7 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

8 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

11 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句