Bombardier mitigates Chinese fuselage risk

We learned about this months ago, but off the record, so we could never use it. This is why we weren’t exercised about the Shenyang connection on Bombardier’s CSeries. Aviation Week has the story and published it here. Having said that, we believe first flight by the end of this year is unlikely, as we reported previously.

11 Comments on “Bombardier mitigates Chinese fuselage risk

  1. Thank you
    Reading the linked article it’s not that obvious that the decision was taken “months ago”
    What looks like alarming in the article might be less alarming according to you

    • AvWeek may not have the same sourcing we have. As we noted, we learned about this months ago. We knew of the risk mitigation contingency nearly 18 months ago and that it had been implemented months ago.

      • I recall that quite early in the program, possibly before the detailed design phase, Bombardier made it clear that the very first centre wing box would be produced by Shorts in Belfast.

  2. So it definetely changes the outcome of the article… turning what seems to be a desesperate last minute move in a clever one timely planned
    Did I get it ?

    Thanks

    • Poncho :
      So it definetely changes the outcome of the article… turning what seems to be a desesperate last minute move in a clever one timely planned

      Although I don’t have enough information, but this could be a key difference: on the 787 Boeing had one failed “hail mary” pass after another. Implementing “plan B” early and decisively when a pre-identified risk is not mitigated according to plan could be what distinguishes Bombardier from the rest.
      On every program stuff goes wrong. How you respond to that is what makes the real difference.

  3. Design responsibilities had been taken back by Bombardier earlier.

    Chinese capabilities are overrated. Of course, the notion of a Chinese threat is still welcome by those who aim to exert wage concessions from workforces in more developed industries.
    I for one wasn’t suprised to read in AvWeek’s interview with Jim McNerney that the pendulum is (slowly) swinging back vertical integration.

    • Josh, do you mean that SAC no longer has the responsibility of the fuselage design? If so, can you give us a source for this information?

  4. What would you do, if you want your very rich sovereign fund to buy an aerospace company, preferentially cheap, when you need to seriously develop your civil aviation !

    Since your national manufacturers have to cope with severe burdens to make and certify their own planes, like the COMAC’s for example !

    Create his insolvency, and buy it ??
    Just der Teufel temptation …

    From : Mephistopheles

  5. Scott, you say “we believe first flight by the end of this year is unlikely”. Is this just a personal opinion or is it based on privileged information?

    • We obviously could not address “privileged” information because it would be…privileged. Call it a professional judgment.

      • Since I hold your professional judgement in high regard I have good reason to worry. 🙁

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *