Boeing is in the government contracting game. They're the second biggest military contractor after Lockheed.
Military contracts are low risk for the contractor because the government absorbs all the overruns, but relatively low profit as well since the contracts specify the amount of profit the company is allowed to earn.
Boeing's huge military contract business is good, steady money, but the commercial aviation business is where they take the lion's share of their profits.
That being said, it seems like both Airbus (EADS) and Boeing are profoundly dysfunctional organizations that are really incapable of doing anything without consuming enormous resources. I wonder if both of them have the "military contractor" mindset built into their corporate culture, and that's why their commercial projects are a serial set of disasters.
I think A&B are lucky to have each other as competitors. If a lean, hungry company ever entered the market it'd wipe the floor with both of them.
Stepping up into the biggest end of commercial aviation is a big, big ask.
There are already a number of aircraft manufacturers playing in the next tier - Bombardier (Dash 8), Embraer (EMB 120), Fokker (F50) and others. I can't really see them ever building something the size of a 787 or A380, but I concede it could be possible.
Looking at existing manufacturers, I think Antonov may stand a chance. They already have the AN-124 and AN-225, which might be engineered into passenger configuration.
With regards to new players, I was reading an article about the Indian company Mahindra yesterday[1]. They have ambitious aerospace plans, already some exposure to the sector through their purchase of GippsAero[2], obviously with much smaller aircraft, but also are located in a fast growing market. The article mentions Boeing's expectation of over 1,000 new commercial airliners needed in India by 2020. Maybe this is your new lean, hungry company.
Bombardier also build CRJs, business jets (Globals, Challengers and Learjets), does government work and builds fire-fighting aircraft. Oh, and the C-Series is a brand new a/c entering into the lower end of the Boeing market.
That being said, building even these small aircraft is a multi-billion dollar investment. If people here think that software design is hard. It takes a monumental amount of work to design a commercial aircraft and the manufacturing processes around it. Oh, and then there is the test phase. That part is fun.
Military contracts are low risk for the contractor because the government absorbs all the overruns, but relatively low profit as well since the contracts specify the amount of profit the company is allowed to earn.
Boeing's huge military contract business is good, steady money, but the commercial aviation business is where they take the lion's share of their profits.
That being said, it seems like both Airbus (EADS) and Boeing are profoundly dysfunctional organizations that are really incapable of doing anything without consuming enormous resources. I wonder if both of them have the "military contractor" mindset built into their corporate culture, and that's why their commercial projects are a serial set of disasters.
I think A&B are lucky to have each other as competitors. If a lean, hungry company ever entered the market it'd wipe the floor with both of them.