British Bolts, German Nuts, French Wrenches

摘要

As 1969 began, the British government had made clear it would not provide financial support for the plan to develop a European twin-aisle airliner. The French and Germans had pledged to back a joint European commercial aircraft program, after the many failures of aircraft launched by national industries individually. But without British involvement, the proposed Airbus A300 had no engine. While that issue was solved with the help of General Electric's CF6 replacing the proposed Rolls-Royce RB207, the aircraft still had no supplier to produce its wings. Were the Europeans missing their chance for a big role on the world stage of commercial aircraft manufacturing? Fifty years later, Airbus is near-ing its 20,000th aircraft order and 12,000th delivery, and it is firmly entrenched in a comfortable, if competitive, duopoly with Boeing. The company is the leader in the high-volume single-aisle market and looks likely to remain so for some time. In the widebody market, the A330 and A350 have been hits. And while the A380 was a spectacular market flop, Airbus is strong enough to shrug off the blow. After all, most of its former competitors have disappeared, and new entrants to the market are a long way from being a real threat.