The Russians, Japanese and now Chinese are set to take on aviation giants Boeing and Airbus with new home-grown commercial regional jet airliners capable of landing loads of tourists at Phuket airport.
Alastair Carthew
Friday 11 January 2013, 04:15PM
The Japanese-made 92-passenger MRJ70 is due to make its maiden flight this year
The dominance of US-based Boeing and Europe?s Airbus in the single-aisle, mid-range aircraft market is about to be severely challenged, particularly by the new Chinese and Japanese airliners due to be launched in the next two years.
These new aircraft are designed to compete against Boeing?s B737 ? one of the great workhorses in aviation ? and the Airbus A320.
First up is the Japanese-made 92-passenger MRJ70, which is scheduled to make its first flight this year. Then next year the 168-seat, all-economy-class configuration Chinese-built COMAC C919 will make its maiden flight, with deliveries scheduled for 2016.
Russia, which has a long history of building aircraft, already has its Sukhoi Superjet 100 in service, touted as the cornerstone of the country?s commercial aviation future.
Its reputation was tarnished this year, however, when a prototype crashed while performing a demonstration over Indonesia, killing 45 people.
All of these aircraft are so-called narrow-bodied [single aisle] jets with takeoff and landing requirements that Phuket International Airport?s 3,000-metre runway can easily accommodate.
They are tailormade for the type of package tourism out of Russia, China and Japan that Phuket is seeing in increasing numbers.
While the COMAC C919 will have CFM International engines, made by a US-French joint venture, much of the rest of the aircraft will be built at various locations in China.
The MRJ is built by Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi but is also expected to use engines built elsewhere, in this case by Pratt and Whitney of the US.
China and Japan are determined that the majority of their airlines? new aircraft should be locally made, and the two countries? airline seem to be falling in line.
At the recent China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Xuhai, 50 orders for the COMAC C919 were placed, with local airlines Joy Air and Hebei Aviation Group the main buyers. Western airlines such as Ireland?s Ryanair and British Airways also expressed interest.
In Japan, All Nippon Airways is the first MRJ90 customer, with an order of 15. This is not a big order; five years ago ANA was the lead customer for the Boeing 787 ?Dreamliner? with a massive order of 50. These are now entering service with the airline.
However, at this year?s Farnborough International Airshow SkyWest Airlines, a North American regional carrier, agreed to buy 100 MRJ90s.
Some aircraft of the future are unlikely to be seen at Phuket airport anytime soon. One of these is the Scramjet, a hypersonic long-haul aircraft capable of speeds up to 7,200 kmh, allowing it to fly from New York to London in an hour (the Concorde took 3.5 hours).
Scramjets are ?airbreathing? aircraft; rather than using aviation fuel they carry hydrogen and ?pull? oxygen needed to burn it from the atmosphere. Air is forced into the front of the engine and as hydrogen is injected into the airstream, the gases are compressed, causing the temperature to rise and ignition to occur.
Other way-out-there aviation ideas include glider airliners, which would be slower than conventional aircraft, but use an eighth of the fuel, making them more environmentally friendly. High speed blimps already exist in the form of the Ohio Airships Dynalifter, a hybrid balloon-aircraft with wings that contribute to lift and control as speed is achieved.
Flying boats went out of fashion as commercial airliners long ago, but with congestion at airports increasing are gaining renewed interest. New technology may allow better entry and exit, more controlled approach and landing ? and rust proof materials.
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are already with us in the form of deadly drones used by the military. Larger versions could feasibly be used for cargo; safety concerns would probably rule them out in the near term for use as passenger aircraft.
Alastair Carthew is a Phuket-based journalist and public relations professional with extensive experience in the aviation industry.
Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/russians-japanese-and-chinese-take-on-boeing-and-airbus-36213.php
all star game oscar red carpet daytona 500 start time ryan zimmerman oscars red carpet jennifer lopez wardrobe malfunction hugo
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন