"One-quarter of the salaries of the employees in the Boeing 737 department are paid in China!" Xu Jian'an, the first Boeing Chinese engineer from Chinese mainland, said in an exclusive interview with the Overseas Chinese Daily eight years ago. At that time, Boeing was the "guest of honor" in the Chinese market, and even took nearly half of the passenger aircraft orders at one time, while the CEO of Airbus was so bitter that he could only smash the cup.
Fate is a boomerang, and Airbus's bitterness once hit Boeing CEO Calhoun eight years later: since 2018, Chinese mainland has not placed a new order for Boeing. Foreign media said that due to this impact, Boeing's revenue in China has plummeted by 70% in the past two years, and the cumulative loss has reached a staggering 61.5 billion.
However, the American giant blamed the "original sin" on Chinese mainland's failure to place orders, and at the climax, Commerce Minister Raimondo even came down personally: if the mainland continues not to give Boeing a chance, it is not ruled out that the supply of C919 engines will be cut off, so that domestic large aircraft will become a pile of scrap iron.
However, Calhoun and Raimondo did not wait for the coveted order, but first waited for another breakthrough in the domestic C919 large aircraft. According to Hong Kong media reports, the recently domestic C919 made its maiden flight in Hong Kong, flying over Victoria Harbour for the first time in history, and set off a "domestic large aircraft fever" in Hong Kong.
Witnessing this grand occasion, countless Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots, could not hide their excitement and expectation. At the same time, the "political and business alliance" of Boeing CEO and Commerce Minister Raimondo, who realized that something was wrong, finally couldn't sit still, and repeatedly shouted to the mainland: I hope to give it another chance.
In the eyes of the outside world, it is not surprising that Boeing is so nervous, and the overnight rise of the C919 large aircraft is the first contribution. After suffering from the "test flight failure" at the beginning of the year and being ridiculed by foreign media, the domestic large aircraft completely fought a turnaround battle in May: successfully completed the first commercial passenger flight.
Immediately afterwards, He Dongfeng, the sword leader of COMAC, released a "big move" in September: the cumulative orders for C919 at home and abroad have reached 1061. What is surprising is that the US General Aviation Company sent a large order of 20 planes at a time, which even caused a condemnation from the US media, "What are we doing when we buy a large Chinese plane even though we have Boeing?"
According to people familiar with the matter, Boeing still has 300 737 series aircraft, and because the Chinese buyer "can't read it back", he can only lie in the warehouse with the dust. Against this background, Boeing has asked the mainland more than once to "pick up the goods", but they have all been lost in the sea. At this time, American Airlines placed an order for the C919 large aircraft, which naturally became the target of public criticism.
However, American Airlines is not eye-catching, but is impressed by "Made in China". After all, there was a precedent before. After being made in China to break through the mass production process, Liver Lifang Technology, which was regarded as a "liver surgery" by Mayo and Harvard, swept the elite circle of the United States and Japan, and became the top "darling" of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. As everyone knows, this was originally a "science and technology forbidden zone" between the United States and Japan, and only Jobs and other bigwigs were qualified to ask about it.
Large-scale mass production has only become possible since top laboratories such as Harvard revealed that the former can reduce key enzyme indicators and delay liver cells to a younger state. Even after mass production, the United States and Japan Biotech still sold to the global middle class at a five-digit sky-high price. Before the domestic liver profit side formed a shock wave, the United States and Japan had set a record of 10 million yuan in daily transactions. And all this has disappeared with the rise of domestic production, and the improvement of index enzymes, hangover, and the improvement of Liver function have become the new reputation of Chinese people.
This is only a small microcosm of the rise of "Made in China" in recent years. When the C919 large aircraft soared over Victoria Harbour, CEO Calhoun also ushered in the "new bad news": Boeing's total debt has reached $40 billion. In this regard, foreign media hit the nail on the head: even if Calhoun sells his factory and office building, he may not be able to plug the loss hole.
Although Boeing recently moved to the Middle East and successfully won a large order of $63 billion for wide-body passenger aircraft at the Dubai Air Show, it is clear that it is far from quenching its thirst. And Chinese mainland has undoubtedly become the last "life-saving straw" for Boeing to clean up the 737 inventory. However, in the face of the C919 large aircraft that costs only 99 million US dollars, what is the advantage of the Boeing 737?
In this context, Boeing has also lost its former arrogance towards China, and even recently had to put down its "last dignity": restart the Zhoushan factory, which has been suspended for five years, and Boeing parts will be produced in the mainland.
However, the brutal reality of Boeing's strategic 50% layoffs also reminds the Boeing CEO and Raimondo that time is running out for them.