China's threat to Boeing, Airbus 'overblown?'

China's ambition to become a major player in the jetmaking business may be running into strong headwinds, according to a report from Reuters.

The news agency writes, "A closer examination by Reuters shows that the potential challenge from China might be greatly overblown, and that its aircraft sector is unlikely to pose any credible competition for at least a decade."

FULL STORY: ?Wing cracks, other flaws delay China jet manufacture (Reuters)

One of the most pressing problems: "a host of design flaws" on China's 90-seat ARJ21 regional plane, which Reuters says would become "the country's first homegrown passenger jet." Those design flaws have delayed approval that the state-owned Commercial Aircraft of China (Comac) needs from China's Civil Aviation Administration.

The ARJ21's flaws include issues with wing cracks, wiring and the aircraft's avionics system, according to Reuters, which cites unnamed "supplier executives."

Problems with the ARJ21 could be far reaching for China's aerospace industry. Reuters writes that those problems threaten "to set back the country's bigger ambition, to dent Airbus and Boeing's global stronghold with a 737-sized airplane of its own."

That would come with Comac's C919, a 160-seat jet that the company had hoped to begin delivering by 2016.

The ARJ21 regional jet is not likely to win regulatory approval until 2013 or after, which puts that aircraft program more than five years behind schedule, according to Reuters. China's efforts to advance the C919 rely, in part, on first winning certification for the ARJ21.

Still, other sources tell Reuters those who dismiss Comac do so at their own risk. Delays to new plane types are common, even at established manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus.

Other industry observers predict that even if Comac's jets are delivered on a delay, the company risks bringing them to market as improved products come online from rivals Boeing and Airbus.

"There is the very serious risk that by the time the C919 enters service (we think three years late is a good estimate), Airbus and Boeing are offering products that make this jet look obsolete," Richard Aboulafia, analyst at the Teal Group, says in a research report quoted by Reuters.

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