Chapter 89 The Olive Branch of the Italians
In the original timeline, Beijiang Airlines did indeed establish a fleet of propeller regional passenger aircraft, but it used ATR42.
The MA-60, which was mainly originally designed, is indeed an aircraft with no merits, and it was already in the 21st century when it was actually put into operation. In the end, it didn’t even have a drink of soup.
But the point is not the order for these 8 aircraft, but the olive branch extended by the Italians.
This is likely to be a huge opportunity for the Chinese civil aviation industry.
"Agusta Company?" Chang Haonan was stunned: "They are not...helicopters..."
"This was indeed the case in the past, but judging from the conditions they offered, they were very sincere and did not look like What's the matter?"
Yi Yuanhe, Liu Hongbo and Chang Haonan were walking near the tarmac, and the setting sun stretched their shadows.
“After analysis by the head office, they think they may want to use this opportunity to enter the Chinese market. Their product performance is even better than that of Eurocopter. Is it just the cost? Tsk tsk...”< br>
“The cost problem may not be unsolvable.” Liu Hongbo, who was walking on the other side, said while arranging his clothes:
"After all, they are talking directly with China Aviation Industry Corporation. If there can be a production line..."
While the other two people were discussing the helicopter production line, Chang Haonan raised his head slightly and recalled one time.
AgustaWestland, before his rebirth, was already called AgustaWestland, an Italian company mainly engaged in the design and manufacture of various helicopters.
Representative models such as AW109 and AW139 will be the absolute main force in China’s police helicopter series in the future.
At this time in 1996, this company should be considering merging with the British company Westland. It was this merger that changed the company's product prefix from "A" to " AW".
However, from the perspective of hindsight, this Italian-British cooperation cannot be considered a success.
After lengthy negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement in 2001, but the joint operation lasted only three years. By 2004, all shares of AgustaWestland were It was bought back by the Italians at a high price.
It has since been operating under the Finmeccanica Group.
"Wait..."
Thinking of this, Chang Haonan seemed to have found some clues.
The MA-60 is a 40-60-seat propeller regional airliner. This market segment is not yet large in scale, so there are very few players in it.
The most important model, the ATR42, was jointly developed by Italy and France.
The participant on the Italian side is Alenia Aerospace.
It is also one of the subsidiaries of Finmeccanica Group.
Everything seemed to become clear.
"Speaking of which, what are the conditions on AgustaWestland's side to jointly develop with us?"
"Yes, but the overall design of the MA-60 has been basically finalized, so they are only improving the aircraft manufacturing process. It will provide some help with aviation materials, and will also inject a certain amount of research and development funds, which is also the part that the head office is more interested in. "Yi Yuanhe nodded.
There is no way. At this time, China's economy can only be considered to have just entered a rising period. To put it nicely, there is a lot of room for improvement. Therefore, low-priority projects like MA-60 require considerable funding. Tight.
"They...didn't ask to participate in other aspects of the design?"
"Other aspects?"
Yi Yuanhe was stunned when he heard this question, and then guessed the meaning of the other party's words: "Are you worried that your technology on the wing will be stolen?"
"Well..." Chang Hao Nan lowered his head and thought for a moment: "That's right. The main thing is to analyze what they want." "You don't have to worry about this. Not to mention that they didn't ask for such a request at all. Even if they did, it's impossible for us to agree." Yi Yuan He chuckled and waved his hand:
“China Aviation Industry only has so many unique skills at the moment. Mr. Liang and the others are holding on to them until it’s too late, unless they can come up with something to deal with. Waiting for the technology to share.”
This idea coincides with the original Chang Haonan.
"What about the final production, is it joint production or..."
"Construct a final assembly line in China and Italy. Except for the core components that each is responsible for, they are all produced in their respective countries."
"It seems that their ambitions in this field are not small..."
Hearing this, Chang Haonan roughly understood the purpose of the Italian side.
“Ambition? You mean our domestic helicopter market?” Liu Hongbo was still thinking about helicopters.
"No, no, no, it's not a helicopter, nor is it the Chinese domestic market." Chang Haonan shook his head:
"Finmeccanica Group can be regarded as an Italian state-owned enterprise, and one of its two core companies is... France is cooperating with us to develop the ATR42, and the other is cooperating with us to develop the MA60. "
"Considering that the Swedish Saab 2000 is very weak in competition due to cost and runway requirements, that is to say, in this segment. In the field, no matter which model any country in the world chooses, they can’t escape letting the Italians make money.”
“Moreover, the final assembly of the ATR42 is completed in Toulouse, France, and does not go to Italy. It provides too many job opportunities and has limited help for Italy’s domestic industrial development.”
“…”
In the 1990s, this information was not very well-informed, so Chang Haonan spent some time at the end to introduce the specific situation of Finmeccanica.
After listening, Yi Yuanhe and Liu Hongbo showed expressions of realization almost simultaneously.
（°ο°）~
After all, Italians have other abilities, and their team level is definitely first-rate.
"You mean, the other party is very optimistic about the future development of this market segment?" The expression on Yi Yuanhe's face gradually changed from surprise to joy.
In fact, the reason why 40-60-seat regional aircraft were chosen as the starting point of China's civil aviation industry has nothing to do with any market assessment and user research. It is entirely because in the early 1990s, domestically produced passenger aircraft could be achieved. There is only one Y7 that imitates the An24.
No choice.
So when Yi Yuanhe, the chief engineer, heard the judgment that this market would have great development in the future, he naturally felt unintentional.
“Yes, especially Southeast Asia and South America, areas where land transportation is inconvenient and navigation distances are relatively short, and some mountainous European countries should also consider it.”
“ If that's the case..."
Yi Yuanhe lowered his head and paced, rubbing his chin with one hand.
This is his habitual action when thinking about problems.
“Perhaps we should report it to the head office and try our best to promote this international cooperation?”
“At least according to the current conditions proposed by the other party, it will not be harmful to us.”
As an outsider, Chang Haonan cannot directly help Yi Yuanhe make any decisions, but he knows very well how to influence the other party.
"Moreover, if possible, I suggest further accelerating the test flight of MA-60, preferably in time to participate in the Paris Air Show in the middle of next year."
(End of this chapter)