Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Can there be a version of the Airbus A320 aircraft called the R320 - powered by engines from Russia's Aviadvigatel?

I've always advocated that, as far as possible, Russia, Iran, China, etc., shouldn't purchase Western [especially American] passenger planes, so as to not send billions of dollars of their money to the West. But this isn't always possible - at least not until Russia's own Irkut MC-21 and CRAIC CR929 airliners are ready for prime time. Till then, Russian airlines like Aeroflot, S7, and Rossiya are forced to buy Western equipment.

Fine. But two steps should be taken to partially reduce the negative impact of this compulsory purchase of Western airplanes:
  1. Buy/prefer Europe's Airbus over America's Boeing. Better to buy A320s rather than Boeing's 737s. Why send billions to the most evil nation in mankind's history?
    1. Where possible, buy/prefer Bombardier or Embraer instead of A/B.
  2. Try to "Russify" the A320 by partnering with Airbus to produce a version of the A320 with Russian powerplants from Aviadvigatel [PS-90A2 and later PD-14]. To clearly distinguish it from the regular A320, call this one R320.
Why would Airbus agree to such a variant? The answer is orders and money. If Airbus can be convinced that by providing the R320, it can effectively shut out its main competitor Boeing from the Russian civil aviation market, there'll be ample financial and strategic incentive to make such a move. The A320 brand would remain untouched because the name R320 is sufficiently different. Further, if the Russian government or a Russian lessor asks Airbus for a few hundred R320s, Airbus probably won't be able to refuse such a large order for which relatively little customization might be needed [such a large single order will effectively be a pooling of smaller orders from various Russian airlines, collected into a single order placed by a single dominant entity, in order to increase the bargaining power of the buyer].

Update [28-Oct-19]: Something similar can be seen in this recent news story:

"The CJ-1000 is designed for the C919, but is expected to power the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 or a similar newly built aircraft in the world market by 2025."

Is China thinking of eventually forcing Airbus and/or Boeing to exclusively use Chinese-made engines for the A320s and/or the 737s that are sold in China? This is within the realm of possibility, considering the size of the Chinese market. If China forces Airbus/Boeing to use a Chinese/Russian engine if A/B want orders from China, it'll dramatically reduce the stronghold that the West has on commercial aviation, by removing GE/Pratt/Rolls/Safran from the equation.

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