Re:The McDonnell Douglas-Boeing merger led to the 737 Max cr...
by cameldrv on Monday January 06, 2020 @08:11PM
(#21975653)
The main reason Bombardier sold the CSeries to Airbus was that it was about to be hit with big tariffs that would have made it noncompetitive in the U.S. market. Airbus has a U.S. production plant in Alabama that can do final assembly and avoid the tariffs.
The market for air travel is highly competitive, the market for airplanes is not. In the market that the 737 serves, there's options from Boeing, Airbus, Tupolev and maybe Comac. Comac and Tupolev are deeply connected with the governments of China and Russia respectively; Airbus and Boeing are heavily subsidized by European and US government too, although more independent. There's a few more manufacturers if you include slightly smaller jets.
Building high capacity passenger jets has large inherent barriers to market, but then you also see things like Bombardier being forced into partnership with Airbus when it tried to develop a new jet around the market of the 737.
Long manufacturing queues and logistical difficulties of mixed fleets also make it hard for airlines to switch models or manufacturers, especially for smaller airlines.