Commercial aviation is growing rapidly in China. The emergence of a relatively affluent middle-class, plus new more maintainable and fuel-efficient airliners are making China the must win market for air-framers worldwide. To date, this has been good news for Boeing and Airbus, but Chinese maker COMAC has started production of an efficient small jet that is aimed squarely at the sweet spot in the market, currently dominated by the Airbus A320 series. Although it makes extensive use of Western engines and avionics, the emergence of a credible locally made competitor in the huge Chinese market is a shot across the bow for Boeing and Airbus. Will the global market support three major airline manufacturers? Want to watch this podcast as a video? This Week in Engineering is available on engineering.com TV along with all of our other shows such as End of the Line, Designing the Future, and, Manufacturing the Future.

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