Sometimes, two or more aircraft manufacturers can’t make the best aircraft all on their own. Instead of abandoning the project, they partner with another aircraft manufacturer to do joint aircraft ventures. But why not just do it alone?
For many, they are skeptical of joint aircraft ventures. Often, you see massive aircraft manufacturers like Boeing or Airbus, partnering with a smaller, more regional aircraft producer to create an aircraft. The best examples of these types of aircraft are the Eurofighter Typhoon and the A220.
Reasons why joint aircraft ventures make sense
There are many reasons why an aircraft manufacturer may want to enter into a joint aircraft venture, these include:
Better technology
Take the Eurofighter for example. Britain is incredibly good at making aircraft wings, due to the massive wind tunnel at Farnborough and over a century of being at the front of wing design and Germany is great at making engines. So rather than the other stuggling to serve the other’s speciality, they came together to exchange them.
Britain would build the Eurofighter’s wings, but Germany would build tehir engines. They would all be shipped to one central location, assembled into one aircraft and then exported to the buyer!
Good addition to the fleet
This is the case with the A220. The A220 was competing with the A320 family and 737 line of jets. From a business point of view, it makes sense for one of these aircraft manufacturers to come in and acquire part (or all) of the A220 project. Obviously, given by the name of the aircraft, the then-CSeries was acquired by Airbus and renamed the A220.
By acquiring the A220 in one of the most talked about joint aircraft ventures, Airbus also acquired a new market: regional flights. This is because the A220 was designed to be the go-to regional aircraft, with incredible fuel efficiency, more passengers and an increased focus on passenger comfort.
Once the Airbus name was behind the A220, sales for the aircraft skyrocketed. Orders flooded the Bombardier headquarters, and after Airbus recently bought out the remaining Bombardier A220 shares, even more orders have come in for the aircraft!
Spread risk
Businesses, no matter how big or small, want to protect themselves from risk. Aircraft manufacturers especially are facing this problem. Even recently, we are seeing one of the largest aircraft manufacturers- Boeing, facing increased problems with their 737 MAX. This led to Airbus overtaking Boeing, to become the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer.
This has led to many people worrying about the possibility of a future problem, such as another 737 MAX incident, or something similar happening to another aircraft.
By the largest in the industry going into business with a smaller manufacturer, this spreads that risk. If that aircraft is faulty, they only have half of the stake. And if one of their other aircraft fail, as the 737 MAX has, they can mitigate this, by pushing for customers to buy the joint aircraft venture, rather than their faulty aircraft!
Access a foreign market easily
Some joint aircraft ventures are designed with one goal in mind: get the brand and image of your manufacturer, into the minds of another country. Some countries have a very strong (and loyal) customer base. Many airlines in smaller European countries will only purchase Airbus or other European-manufactured aircraft.
This would mean that Boeing could go in and do joint aircraft ventures with smaller European manufacturers such as Pilatus, in order to create a Boeing-powered, Swiss watch masterpiece of a turboprop aircraft!
(I am not implying that Pilatus, nor Boeing will/should go into a joint aircraft venture together, nor am I implying the opposite!)
Reasons why people are skeptical of joint aircraft ventures?
Some people are often skeptical when aircraft manufacturers come together to collaborate on an aircraft, this is often because:
Why can’t they just do it themselves?
People see the largest aircraft manufacturers come together to work with a smaller, unknown aircraft manufacturer and wonder why they just can’t do it themselves? If they are this big and have this much power, how/why can’t they do it by themselves?
These people suspect that the real motivation is more a bullying factor than anything else. These larger aircraft manufacturers often put in less money that their smaller counterparts, yet get a higher percentage of shares. These people believe that the larger aircraft manufacturers are bullying the smaller ones into an unfair deal.
They pay for everything, and perhaps even build the aircraft in their factories, but the majority of the profits go to the bigger of the two.
They’re lower quality
This links into the next point quite well. Some people make the assumption, that as two companies are building it, rather than one, that there will be some miscommunication between the two- especially if they are a continent apart! They believe that this miscommunication will lead to the aircraft being lower quality and thus, will be less safe than traditional one-producer aircraft.
They back this up with evidence. Not just several now-gone airliners, but the legendary A220. In October last year, the A220 was found to have a significant engine problem, after a Swiss Airlines A220 was forced to make an emergency landing.
What was the issue? Parts of the engine started to fall off, and land in parts of rural France!
The initial producer was about to go bust, what’s wrong with it?
Sometimes, as is the case with the CSeries, the original designer is about to go bankrupt. Then, a major player in the aviation industry swoops in and saves then from the brink of bankruptcy.
Knowing this information, people assume that there was something wrong with the company’s quality or customer satisfaction, that led to the bankruptcy in the first place.
They assume that it is the aircraft’s fault, when it could just be poor financial management on the part of the company. (This is not to say that it isn’t sometimes the fault of the aircraft!)
Should joint aircraft ventures be continued?
Personally, I would say that joint aircraft ventures should be continued. This is because I believe that this prevents one of the aviation industry’s main issues: too much consolidation.
I also believe that aircraft ventures allow for more companies to enter the market and get a name for themselves, even if they are sacrificing their bottom line! I also like the fact that it us to see amazing new aircraft, that are the best blend of two manufacturers!
What do you think? Should joint aircraft ventures be continued? Why or why not? Tell me in the comments!
Image courtesy of Victor via Flickr