Re:Is America Inc getting less dynamic, less global and more...
by selfhoster11 on Thursday September 16, 2021 @07:16AM
(#28550285)
Yes, but come on. 1967. We surely have made a lot of progress since then. 50 years of holding back is a bit much. Are we going to still hear "but retraining is soooooo difficult" in 2067?
Re:Is America Inc getting less dynamic, less global and more...
by bobthepanda on Saturday September 18, 2021 @02:11AM
(#28574107)
retraining isn't difficult but retraining is expensive.
Southwest, Ryanair and their competition are literally nickel and diming everything to offer ever cheaper seats to fliers. Until that changes, airlines will balk at new aircraft.
It's why 737Max was developed instead of NMA; Airbus came out with the 320 and 330neo series, which did not require retraining.
Re:Is America Inc getting less dynamic, less global and more...
by gruez on Thursday September 16, 2021 @01:43PM
(#28554743)
maybe we reached peak aircraft? After all, we don't complain that we're using a knife design from a few hundred years ago.
Re:Is America Inc getting less dynamic, less global and more...
by jessaustin on Thursday September 16, 2021 @06:11AM
(#28549872)
While this is plausible for aircraft in general, in the case of the 737 Max it clearly isn't true. Boeing would have been better off not killing hundreds of passengers and losing $20B.
Re:Is America Inc getting less dynamic, less global and more...
by bobthepanda on Saturday September 18, 2021 @02:13AM
(#28574117)
The 787 cost $32B to develop. So the jury might actually be out on whether a new clean-sheet aircraft would've been more disastrous, given that its rollout was not very smooth either.
I am just saying that the economic incentives are not aligned so that a decision other than the 737MAX would've been the prudent, competitive move.
It is extremely costly to develop a new airplane and to train staff on it, at the price point and fuel efficiency for airlines to sell ever cheaper tickets. Airbus is doing the exact same with its neo models. Bombardier and Embraer were driven into the arms of the duopoly because they cannot afford to develop new aircraft. Russia, China, and Japan have all tried their hand at pumping billions of dollars into commercial aircraft manufacturing and haven’t been successful.