The first time I visited China, in 1996, I went, like all traveling pilgrims, to Beijing's Tiananmen Square and gazed at the massive portrait of Mao Zedong at the entrance to the Forbidden City. More than anything, it was the sight that made me feel: I'm really here.
Current Chinese President Hu Jintao doesn't have anything like the cult of personality that surrounded Mao, and that is probably a good thing. Hu, presently on a state visit to the United States, is a different kind of leader: a technocrat, a hydraulic engineer by training, member of a post-revolutionary generation who worked his way up through the ranks of the Communist Party. He is not a dictator in the Mao mold, but Hu is very much the Man in Chinese politics. Hu has overseen the historic boom that followed the economic makeover put in motion by the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978. Today, China has the world's second-largest economy, after the U.S. (though it has just one-10th the per capita GDP of the U.S.). That hyper-growth has put the Middle Kingdom on equal footing with the United States and cast it as the rising superpower of the 21st century.
One can't visit China and not be impressed or come away from China without feeling that you have seen the future. I have been to China a dozen times now, most recently last month when I visited Beijing and the Hong Kong SAR. In Beijing, I stayed in a hip boutique hotel called the Opposite House, in a fashion-forward district near the cluster of foreign embassies in the centeal city. I flew to the capital onboard the Chinese carrier Dragonair, deplaning in one of the world's biggest and newest passenger terminals, at Beijing Capital Airport. The city of 18 million - maybe more, who's counting? - was pancake flat when I first visited. Now, it is festooned with highrises and choked with cars. Modern shopping centers pulsate where traditional hutongs - back alleys - lined with courtyard houses once stood.
Progress has come at a cost: Chinese cities are among the most-polluted in the world. Cities like Beijing have bulldozed much of their heritage - even though such sites are, among other things, prized tourist attractions - in the rush to develop. Freedom of speech and religion are still tightly controlled. China's sway over Tibet is hugely unpopular around the world.
All this change comes courtesy of China's hybrid economy, a form of state capitalism that concentrates political clout among party leaders and gives the state power to own or otherwise control major home-grown corporations. China is expanding aggressively in both the economic and military spheres and it bargains hard to get what it wants - the U.S. agreement to let Chinese companies have access to more-sensitive American technology, announced today in Washington, is one result of China's leverage and hard bargaining.
Of course, Hu has granted concessions, too, to further at least the impression of international harmony between the two rival powers. The biggest deal in that regard is China's agreement to buy $19 billion worth of aircraft from the Boeing Co. Those airplanes will come in handy in helping China carry out a major expansion of its own airlines, which are struggling to keep up with the surge in air-passenger traffic as a newly empowered Chinese middle class discovers the joys of overseas tourism.
Count on this: As Sino-American relations evolve, travel and tourism will continue to play an important and emblematic role.
Showing posts with label Boeing Co.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boeing Co.. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Up in the Air, at Last
Finally, today, more than 2 years late, Boeing Co. pilots flew the company's B787 Dreamliner on its first test flight. It lasted only three hours and the aircraft didn't travel far from Boeing airfields near Seattle, but, hey, it's a start. The composite material, lightweight, fuel-efficient jetliner, which Boeing touts as an aviation game-changer, is aloft at last.
In 2007, when Boeing unveiled the aircraft on the ground, it was metaphorically held together with string and glue, and had to be disassembled after visiting dignitaries, potential customers and others cast their eyes on the prototype and rebuilt. Boeing took orders for more than 800 of the new planes, but repeated delays in production - initial delivery, set for early 2008, has been postponed five times - caused some airlines to cancel or curtail their orders. Of course, the recession has prompted airlines to cut back broadly on aircraft orders, not just for the 787.
But the plane can fly. There was no question it would fly eventually; the only question was when. Launch customer All Nippon Airways, the Japanese carrier, ordered more than 50 B787s and planed to use its first-user advantage to fly them to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The delays cost ANA that marketing coup, but the airline has presumably saved a bundle of yen on refunds, on top of the discounts off list prices it originally negotiated as the launch customer.
ANA now expects to take the first deliveries of the 787 toward the end of 2010. In a statement Tuesday, the company gamely tried to sound encouraged, and encouraging:
"We would like to convey our sincere congratulations and are delighted to hear this awaited news of the success of the first flight. We will keep on taking all possible measures to ensure our preparation in receiving the new aircraft.''
And hope it actually gets there next year. ANA has been through the wringer waiting.
As it is, Boeing - which outsourced many parts and processes to international contractors - has taken a hit to its reputation for efficiency. But then, so has arch-rival Airbus, whose own composite, fuel-efficient plane, the A350, has also been beset with delays and is several years away from taking to the sky.
Breakthroughs - "game-changers'' is the current business buzz-word - are tricky things, and are fatal to corporate hubris.
In 2007, when Boeing unveiled the aircraft on the ground, it was metaphorically held together with string and glue, and had to be disassembled after visiting dignitaries, potential customers and others cast their eyes on the prototype and rebuilt. Boeing took orders for more than 800 of the new planes, but repeated delays in production - initial delivery, set for early 2008, has been postponed five times - caused some airlines to cancel or curtail their orders. Of course, the recession has prompted airlines to cut back broadly on aircraft orders, not just for the 787.
But the plane can fly. There was no question it would fly eventually; the only question was when. Launch customer All Nippon Airways, the Japanese carrier, ordered more than 50 B787s and planed to use its first-user advantage to fly them to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The delays cost ANA that marketing coup, but the airline has presumably saved a bundle of yen on refunds, on top of the discounts off list prices it originally negotiated as the launch customer.
ANA now expects to take the first deliveries of the 787 toward the end of 2010. In a statement Tuesday, the company gamely tried to sound encouraged, and encouraging:
"We would like to convey our sincere congratulations and are delighted to hear this awaited news of the success of the first flight. We will keep on taking all possible measures to ensure our preparation in receiving the new aircraft.''
And hope it actually gets there next year. ANA has been through the wringer waiting.
As it is, Boeing - which outsourced many parts and processes to international contractors - has taken a hit to its reputation for efficiency. But then, so has arch-rival Airbus, whose own composite, fuel-efficient plane, the A350, has also been beset with delays and is several years away from taking to the sky.
Breakthroughs - "game-changers'' is the current business buzz-word - are tricky things, and are fatal to corporate hubris.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Hubris
Hubris, thy name is Boeing ... and Airbus.
The world's two giant aircraft-makers - embracing globalization but stretched to the limit by it - are still struggling to make what they proudly term "game-changing'' new airplanes and deliver them to customer airlines. The latest delay came in June, when Chicago-based Boeing Co. announced there would be yet another delay - the fifth since 2007 - in delivery of its B787 Dreamliner, a long-range airplane made of carbon-composite materials that airlines are counting on to generate less pollution and burn less fuel than do their current fleets. Now, Boeing says its first test flight of the 787 won't take place till the end of this year, with the first deliveries in late 2010 - two and a half years late.
Delays play havoc with the business plans of airlines and put off the day when the traveling public can start to reap the benefits of flying in relatively clean and quiet jetliners.
Toulouse-based Airbus, for its part, is two years behind schedule on its superjumbo A380, due primarily to problems in the extensive electrical wiring needed for the plane. The A380 has been flying for nearly two years but only three airlines are using it, as orders stack up, awaiting faster production by Airbus, a European consortium dominated by the French and Germans with some input from the British and Spanish.
I flew on the first scheduled commercial flight of an Airbus A380, traveling from Singapore to Sydney on Singapore Airlines flight 380. The date was Oct. 25, 2007, and the ride was spectacular - not least because of the movie-premiere-like party going on throughout the seven-hour flight, but also because of the astonishingly quiet performance of the enormous, double-decker plane. Since then, Emirates and Qantas have started flying the A380, too, though both are still waiting for most of the planes they ordered, as is Singapore Air.
The Dreamliner, too, promises to be a fine new airplane, though aviation industry pundits are understandably skeptical about the manufacturer's grand claims for it. "There was a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of the chatter on the street was "Will this aircraft ever fly?'' Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Jesup and Lamont Securities, told Airwise.com after the latest Boeing explanation and apologia.
That's a bit silly. With billions in research and development committed to the 787 and Boeing's prestige on on the line, the aircraft will fly. The question isn't if but when.
In the meantime, imagine being All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for the 787 and buyer of 55 of the aircraft. ANA was expecting to take its first planes in May 2008 and fly them to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. That plan was dashed.
In Tokyo last year, I interviewed several ANA executives. When the question of the Dreamliner came up, the vexation in their faces was apparent. When I asked if they would seek financial compensation from Boeing for lost business, they said they just might. No one has commented on how much such compensation that could be.
Last week - following a Boeing announcement that it is making headway on resolving a problem left unsolved by an Italian contractor in afixing the wings to the body of the 787 - ANA issued this statement:
"We understand the need to make the best and safest aircraft possible and appreciate that delays due to engineering issues of the current nature must be solved in order to move forward and achieve this. However, as launch customer and future operator of the 787, the length of this further delay is a source of great dismay, not to say frustration.''
Some of Boeing's current difficulties come from overpromising, some from the increasingly globalized nature of manufacturing, with its extended supply chains, worldwide outsourcing and many subcontractors - some relatively unknown to Boeing and Airbus.
Despite their struggles in managing far-flung contract manufacturers, Boeing has said it is looking into starting a second production line for the 787 Dreamliner. If final assembly takes place outside Boeing plants in the state of Washington, that would be a first for Boeing.
Meanwhile, airlines and air travelers alike wait, and wait, to fly the sky of the future.
The world's two giant aircraft-makers - embracing globalization but stretched to the limit by it - are still struggling to make what they proudly term "game-changing'' new airplanes and deliver them to customer airlines. The latest delay came in June, when Chicago-based Boeing Co. announced there would be yet another delay - the fifth since 2007 - in delivery of its B787 Dreamliner, a long-range airplane made of carbon-composite materials that airlines are counting on to generate less pollution and burn less fuel than do their current fleets. Now, Boeing says its first test flight of the 787 won't take place till the end of this year, with the first deliveries in late 2010 - two and a half years late.
Delays play havoc with the business plans of airlines and put off the day when the traveling public can start to reap the benefits of flying in relatively clean and quiet jetliners.
Toulouse-based Airbus, for its part, is two years behind schedule on its superjumbo A380, due primarily to problems in the extensive electrical wiring needed for the plane. The A380 has been flying for nearly two years but only three airlines are using it, as orders stack up, awaiting faster production by Airbus, a European consortium dominated by the French and Germans with some input from the British and Spanish.
I flew on the first scheduled commercial flight of an Airbus A380, traveling from Singapore to Sydney on Singapore Airlines flight 380. The date was Oct. 25, 2007, and the ride was spectacular - not least because of the movie-premiere-like party going on throughout the seven-hour flight, but also because of the astonishingly quiet performance of the enormous, double-decker plane. Since then, Emirates and Qantas have started flying the A380, too, though both are still waiting for most of the planes they ordered, as is Singapore Air.
The Dreamliner, too, promises to be a fine new airplane, though aviation industry pundits are understandably skeptical about the manufacturer's grand claims for it. "There was a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of the chatter on the street was "Will this aircraft ever fly?'' Alex Hamilton, an analyst with Jesup and Lamont Securities, told Airwise.com after the latest Boeing explanation and apologia.
That's a bit silly. With billions in research and development committed to the 787 and Boeing's prestige on on the line, the aircraft will fly. The question isn't if but when.
In the meantime, imagine being All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for the 787 and buyer of 55 of the aircraft. ANA was expecting to take its first planes in May 2008 and fly them to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. That plan was dashed.
In Tokyo last year, I interviewed several ANA executives. When the question of the Dreamliner came up, the vexation in their faces was apparent. When I asked if they would seek financial compensation from Boeing for lost business, they said they just might. No one has commented on how much such compensation that could be.
Last week - following a Boeing announcement that it is making headway on resolving a problem left unsolved by an Italian contractor in afixing the wings to the body of the 787 - ANA issued this statement:
"We understand the need to make the best and safest aircraft possible and appreciate that delays due to engineering issues of the current nature must be solved in order to move forward and achieve this. However, as launch customer and future operator of the 787, the length of this further delay is a source of great dismay, not to say frustration.''
Some of Boeing's current difficulties come from overpromising, some from the increasingly globalized nature of manufacturing, with its extended supply chains, worldwide outsourcing and many subcontractors - some relatively unknown to Boeing and Airbus.
Despite their struggles in managing far-flung contract manufacturers, Boeing has said it is looking into starting a second production line for the 787 Dreamliner. If final assembly takes place outside Boeing plants in the state of Washington, that would be a first for Boeing.
Meanwhile, airlines and air travelers alike wait, and wait, to fly the sky of the future.
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