评论
打印
Business
商业报道
Commercial aircraft
商用飞机
Bombardier lights a fuse
庞巴迪公司点燃了导火线
Canada's new passenger jet threatens an old duopoly
加拿大新型客机给两强垄断集团带来威胁
SINCE the late 1990s airlines wanting to buy short-to-medium-haul narrowbody planes with 100-200 seats have had little choice but to pick either Boeing's 737 or Airbus's A320.
从20世纪90年代末期开始，想要购买中短途100至200座窄身飞机的航空公司别无选择只能选择波音737或者空客A320。
As orders for such planes have boomed in recent years, aircraft-makers in China, Russia and Canada have been working on new contenders to break this American-European duopoly.
近年来，随着对此类飞机需求的激增，中国、俄罗斯及加拿大飞机制造商们一直致力于研究新的竞争者来打破美欧两强垄断的局面。
On September 16th Canada's Bombardier got there first, launching the maiden flight of its CSeries plane.
9月16日，加拿大怕巴蒂公司首先达成目标，进行了其C系列飞机的首航。
Bombardier is duelling the duopolists because the prospects for the planes it already makes—regional jets of under 100 seats and corporate jets—are not as juicy as those for mainstream commercial airliners.
庞巴迪公司在与两强作斗争，因为他公司所制造的飞机—100座以下区域性飞机和公司商务机的前景并不像主流商用飞机那样报酬丰富。
Global passenger traffic is set to grow by 5% a year for the next two decades, reckons Boeing, and airlines are seeking ones that seat 100-200 to fill much of the new demand.
波音公司认为，接下来20年，全球客流量预期每年上升5%，航空公司正在寻找那种100到200座的飞机以满足新的需求。
In regional jets Bombardier has enjoyed a near-duopoly of its own, with Embraer of Brazil.
在支线飞机中，庞巴迪与巴西航空公司享有几乎两强垄断的地位。
But Japanese, Russian and Chinese rivals are moving in to the market just as operators of regional jets are going for bigger planes.
但是，就在支线飞机运营商需要更大飞机时，日本、俄罗斯及中国的竞争对手正进入该市场。
Corporate jets and their owners took a knock in the financial crisis, and their prospects still look weak.
公司商务机及其所有者在经济危机中受到了打击，而且他们的前景看起来仍很渺茫。
Although lots of new metro systems are being built worldwide, Bombardier's other main business, building trains does not look so strong. About two-thirds of the division's revenues come from Europe, where trains are largely bought with public purses drained by faltering economies.
虽然世界范围内都在建造大众捷运系统，庞巴迪另外一项主要业务，制造火车看起来并非那么强。该部门2/3的收益来自欧洲。因为经济衰退造成国库空虚，欧洲大量购买火车。
Bombardier is trying to slip in under the radar, not competing head-on with its rivals.
庞巴迪公司试图在雷达下偷偷溜进，而不是与竞争对手正面冲突。
The first two versions of the CSeries will have only 100-150 seats, whereas most 737s and A320s sold are 150-200 seaters.
最初的两种C系列飞机只有100到150座，而大多数出售的波音737飞机和空客A320是150到200座的。
However, Bombardier hopes airlines will be attracted by its plane's low fuel consumption—20% less than its rivals',it claims—and 15% lower running costs.
但是，庞巴迪公司希望航空公司会被飞机的低耗油特点所吸引—宣称比其竞争对手少20%的耗油量—并减少15%的运营成本。
Much of that advantage comes from a new engine, the geared turbofan, made by Pratt & Whitney, an American firm.
大部分的优势来自于一个新的引擎，也就是美国普惠发动机公司生产的齿轮传动式涡轮风扇发动机。
So far, though, airlines have held back and waited to see how the CSeries flies.
迄今为止，航空公司们还在犹豫并等着看C系列飞机的试飞情况。
Only 177 firm orders have been placed as yet.
至今只下了177单确定订单。
Some analysts wonder if starting out at the bottom end of the range was a good idea:
一些分析家怀疑从范围底层开始是不是一个好办法：
Darryl Genovesi of UBS, a bank, reckons that there are 5,000 jets of 90-150 seats in operation and that only 2,000 are likely to be replaced over the next five to ten years, with another 1,000 on the borderline.
瑞士联合银行的达瑞尔认为现在有5000架90到150座的飞机正在运营中，只有2000架会在下一个5到10年内被取代，另外还有1000架在取代与被取代的边界。
Furthermore, Boeing and Airbus are not giving up without a dogfight.
而且，波音公司和空中客车公司不会不战而降。
Both are working on completely new narrowbodies, to be launched in a decade or so, and in the mean time their existing models are being upgraded.
两家公司都在努力发明一种完全新型的窄型飞机，希望在未来10年左右发布，同时，他们现有的模型也正在升级中。
The 737 MAX and A320neo, out in a couple of years, will get improved engines, narrowing the efficiency gap with the CSeries.
过几年，737 MAX 和A320 neo会有升级的引擎，这将缩小他们与庞巴迪C系列飞机的效率差距。
Indeed, buyers of the A320neo will be able to choose the geared turbofan.
实际上，A320neo的买家可能会选择齿轮传动式涡轮风扇发动机。
And as Zafar Khan of Societe Generale, a bank, notes, the CSeries is a new airframe and a new engine, a double risk.
正如兴业银行的扎法尔?汗说的，C系列飞机时一种新的飞机机体和新的引擎，双重的风险。
No doubt Boeing and Airbus have been pointing this out to customers, as well as offering attractive prices to deter airlines from taking a punt on the CSeries.
难怪波音公司和空客公司不仅向其客户指出这个问题，还给出了吸引人的价格来防止航空公司投资在C系列飞机上。
Both are bound to worry that Bombardier will add a larger model carrying up to 200 passengers.
两家公司一定都担心庞巴迪公司会增加那种200座的模型。
Such concerns would intensify if Bombardier makes progress on its partnership with COMAC, a Chinese state firm strongly backed by its home government, which is also building a narrowbody plane.
如果庞巴迪公司和致力于制造窄型飞机的中国政府支持的国有企业中国商用飞机公司的合作成功的话，这种担心会加剧。
The market for the current CSeries models may be only around 100 planes a year.
C系列模型目前的市场可能每年只有100架。
That may not deliver a decent return on its 4 billion development costs.
这可能对其40亿美元的开发成本来说不是一个很好的回报。
But it will keep Bombardier in the skies, circling for a more vigorous counter-attack on the duopoly.
但是这使庞巴迪公司的飞机在天空中飞翔，盘旋着对两强垄断集团进行强有力的反击。
