Comment by xenadu02
12 hours ago
> The same way Congress has been subsidizing Boeing and its competitors
Funny you should mention that. Boeing deliberately buys 35% of a 787's airframe from Japan (along with other equipment for the 787 and other models).
That's a deliberate play: we buy a lot of parts from Japanese companies, your airlines buy mostly Boeing airplanes. Even today despite some diversification Boeing has over 70% marketshare in Japan.
If you ever wondered why Airbus setup factories in the USA that's a similar deal. The US Gov and Mil want to ensure factories and workforce on home soil should the need arise. In some unrecorded meetings somewhere strong hints were no doubt dropped that it would be in Airbus' best interest to play ball. They obliged.
That said the USA is the largest supplier of parts for Airbus airliners so there's also a benefit to having aerospace manufacturing and R&D here.
Boeing proposes sth called the “Boeing Honeywell Uninterruptible Autopilot” to add drone-like remote control capabilities to its airliners (for security reasons, obviously). I'm not aware of a similar offering for Airbus but I have no doubt such a capability has existed in Airbus as well for perhaps two decades. I expected development of such a sensitive system for Airbus to be based in France, but your comment about “strong hints” and “play ball” has me thinking…