New Chinese Company Created to Build China’s Own Aircraft Engines

• August 29, 2016
• By Pete Nisbet
• 0

A new Chinese company has been set up to build the county’s own aircraft engines.  China has set up its own state-owned aircraft engine manufacturing facility as part of a push by President Xi Jinping to make China less reliant on foreign technology, and to reduce the need for imports.  The new group, known as the Aero-Engine Group of China, was created by amalgamating a number of Chinese companies in the aircraft industry.

It will be responsible for the development of both commercial and military aircraft engines, and has a registered capital of 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion). Although China has been building its own planes for some time now, it has been unable to meet global requirements in engine design and construction. It has been purchasing its military aircraft engines from Russia and its commercial engines from American companies General Electric and Pratt and Whitney (owned by United Technologies.)

New Chinese Company Investors

Among the investors in this new company are Commercial Aircraft Corp. Of China (COMAC), Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC ), Beijing municipal government and the Chinese government.  Comac produces the C919, the country’s largest home-built passenger plane, while AVIC builds helicopters and military jets.

A number of other smaller businesses are included in this initiative, involving a total of around 96,000 employees. AVIC is in the final stages of a 129 billion yuan ($19.3 billion) merger of its aircraft engine businesses.  Its intention is to produce a giant that can realistically compete with Pratt and Whitney.

Chinese Aircraft Engines Just the Start

Aircraft engines are just one of the major products prioritized by the Chinese government in its drive to improve Chinese state-owned enterprises. Others include nuclear power and high-speed rail services. Xi Jinping has urged the firm to speed up research, development and manufacture of aircraft engines and gas turbines with a view to achieving his goal of China become a major world power in aviation technology and manufacturing.