US firms to see boost as China’s aviation industry takes off

BEIJING — China’s surging aviation industry has been creating great opportunities for global companies, especially US giants and many enterprises on the extensive industrial chain.

China has not only developed a massive civil aviation market with huge potential, but has also become a major player in aircraft manufacturing.

At the end of 2017, China had a civil fleet of 3,296 aircraft, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Boeing predicted that China will need 7,240 new aircraft over the next 20 years, valued at nearly $1.1 trillion.

Boeing delivered a record high of 202 new aircraft to China last year, representing 26 percent of its global deliveries and its sixth consecutive year of more than 140 deliveries to China.

More than 9,000 Boeing in-service civil aircraft have components made in China, according to Boeing. For example, all rudders for the entire 787 family come from the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the nation’s largest State-owned aircraft manufacturer.

Boeing is not the only US aviation company that benefits from the Chinese market.

Texas-based Bell Helicopter also achieved great success in the Chinese market, said Patrick Moulay, the company’s executive vice-president for global sales and marketing.

In 2017, Bell Helicopter signed a deal for 100 Bell 407GXP single-engine helicopters with its Chinese partner, Shaanxi Helicopter.

The company also received 110 orders from Beijing-based Reignwood Group for Bell 505 single-engine helicopters in the same year.

“We take more orders from the Asia-Pacific region than the combination of other markets,” Moulay said in an interview in February.

With its enhanced manufacturing capabilities, China is now a big player in the global aviation industry, purchasing more aircraft from manufacturers worldwide in a more integrated global aviation industry chain of manufacturers and suppliers.

“Aviation is a crucial highend and high-value industry. It has an extremely long industrial chain and strong economic radiation capacity,” said Jason Liao, CEO of the China Business Aviation Group.

As the world’s leading aviation power, the United States not only has manufacturing giants such as Boeing, Gulfstream Aerospace, Textron Aviation and Bell Helicopter, but also has many major aviation system suppliers.