Chapter 89 The Italian’s Olive Branch

In the original timeline, Beijiang Airlines did establish a propeller regional passenger aircraft fleet, but it used ATR42.

The MA-60, which was mainly designed in the original design, is indeed an aircraft with no merits, and it was already in the 21st century when it was actually put into operation. In the end, it didn't even have a drink of soup.

But the point is not the order for these eight aircraft, but the olive branch extended by the Italians.

This is likely to be a huge opportunity for China's civil aviation industry.

"Agusta Company?" Chang Haonan was stunned: "They are not...helicopters..."

"This was indeed the case in the past, but judging from the conditions they offered, they were very sincere and it didn't look like there was anything fishy."

Yi Yuanhe, Liu Hongbo and Chang Haonan were walking near the tarmac. The setting sun stretched their shadows.

"After analysis by the head office, they think they may want to use this opportunity to enter the Chinese market. The performance of their products is even better than that of Eurocopter. Is it just the cost? Tsk tsk..."

"The cost problem may not be unsolvable." Liu Hongbo, who was walking on the other side, said while arranging his clothes:

"After all, they are directly negotiating with China Aviation Industry Corporation. If they can have a production line..."

While the other two people were discussing the helicopter production line, Chang Haonan raised his head slightly and recalled it.

AgustaWestland, before his rebirth, was already called AgustaWestland, an Italian company specializing in the design and manufacture of various helicopters.

Representative models such as AW109 and AW139 will be the absolute main force in China's police helicopter series in the future.

At this time in 1996, this company should be considering a merger with the British company Westland. It was this merger that changed the company's product prefix from "A" to "AW".

However, from the perspective of hindsight, this Italian-British cooperation cannot be considered a success.

After lengthy negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement in 2001, but the joint operation only lasted three years. By 2004, all the shares of AgustaWestland were re-bought by the Italians at a high price. Went back.

It has since been operated under the Finmeccanica Group.

"and many more……"

Thinking of this, Chang Haonan seemed to have found some clues.

The MA-60 is a 40-60-seat propeller regional airliner. This market segment is not yet large in scale, so there are very few players in it.

The most important model, the ATR42, was jointly developed by Italy and France.

The participant on the Italian side is Alenia Aerospace.

It is also one of the subsidiaries of Finmeccanica Group.

Everything seemed to become clear.

"Speaking of which, what are the conditions on Agusta's side? Will they jointly develop with us?"

"Yes, but the overall design of the MA-60 has been basically finalized, so they will only provide some help in aircraft manufacturing technology and aviation materials, and will also inject a sum of research and development funds. This is also the part that the head office is more interested in. ." Yi Yuanhe nodded.

There is no way. At this time, China's economy can only be considered to have just entered a period of growth. To put it nicely, there is a lot of room for improvement. Therefore, funds for low-priority projects like MA-60 are quite tight.

"They...didn't ask to participate in other aspects of the design?"

"Other aspects?"

Yi Yuanhe was stunned when he heard this question, and then guessed the meaning of the other party's words: "Are you worried that your technology on the wing will be stolen?"

"Well..." Chang Haonan lowered his head and thought for a moment: "That's right. The main thing is to analyze what they want."

"You don't have to worry about this. Not to mention that they didn't mention this kind of request at all. Even if they did, it's impossible for us to agree." Yi Yuanhe chuckled and waved his hand:

"China Aviation Industry only has such a unique skill at the moment. Mr. Liang and the others are holding on to it until it's too late, unless they can come up with some equivalent technology to share."

This idea coincides with Chang Haonan's original idea.

"What about the final production, is it joint production or..."

"Build a final assembly line in China and Italy respectively. Except for the core components that each is responsible for, they are all produced in their respective countries."

"It seems that their ambitions in this field are not small..."

After hearing this, Chang Haonan roughly understood the purpose of the Italian side.

"Ambition? You mean our domestic helicopter market?" Liu Hongbo was still thinking about helicopters.

"No, no, no, it's not helicopters, nor China's domestic market." Chang Haonan shook his head:

"Finmeccanica Group can be regarded as an Italian state-owned enterprise, and one of its two core companies cooperates with France to develop ATR42, and the other cooperates with us to develop MA60."

"Considering that the Saab 2000 in Sweden has very weak competitiveness due to cost and runway requirements, that is to say, in this segment, no country in the world can escape from letting the Italians earn money no matter which model they choose. money."

"Furthermore, the final assembly of the ATR42 was completed in Toulouse, France. It did not provide many employment opportunities in Italy, and it also had limited help for the development of the industry in Italy."

"..."

In the 90s, this information was not very well-informed, so Chang Haonan spent some time at the end to introduce the specific situation of Finmeccanica.

After listening, Yi Yuanhe and Liu Hongbo showed expressions of realization almost simultaneously.

(°o°)~

After all, the Italians' other abilities aside, their team level is definitely first-rate.

"You mean, the other party is very optimistic about the future development of this market segment?" The expression on Yi Yuanhe's face gradually changed from surprise to joy.

In fact, the reason why 40-60-seat regional aircraft were chosen as the starting point of China's civil aviation industry has nothing to do with any market assessment and user research. It is entirely because in the early 90s, domestically produced passenger aircraft could be achieved. There is only one Y24 that imitates the An7.

No choice.

Therefore, when Yi Yuanhe, the chief engineer, heard the judgment that this market would have great development in the future, he naturally had a feeling of unintentional interference.

"Yes, especially Southeast Asia and South America, where land transportation is inconvenient and navigation distances are relatively short, and some mountainous European countries should also consider it."

"if it is like this……"

Yi Yuanhe lowered his head and paced, rubbing his chin with one hand.

This is his habitual action when thinking about problems.

"Perhaps we should report it to the head office and try our best to promote this international cooperation?"

"At least according to the current conditions proposed by the other party, there is no harm to us."

As an outsider, Chang Haonan could not directly help Yi Yuanhe make any decisions, but he knew very well how to influence the other party.

"Moreover, if possible, I suggest further accelerating the test flight progress of the MA-60, preferably in time for the Paris Air Show to be held in the middle of next year."