Abstract
The world of aircraft manufacturing serves the purpose of supporting aviation by producing aircraft parts as well as building aircrafts. In general, this industry can be divided into two main segments – the military and space applications of aero-structures and the civil/commercial aircrafts, the latter consisting of large and small passenger aircrafts and cargo aircrafts. Commercial aviation has increasingly been managed by private sector companies whereas military aviation is traditionally controlled by state bodies. In this analysis, however, we will primarily focus on civil aircrafts. The current aircraft producer industry is basically a duopoly with two key companies, Boeing and Airbus, competing against each other for market shares. While the Boeing Company, a US multinational aerospace and defense corporation, was founded in 1916, the roots of the Airbus Company dates back to the year 1970 making Boeing a more experienced producer. Nevertheless, Airbus has recently managed to outperform its major competitor and former market leader Boeing due to its increasingly favorable reputation and reliability. Now Airbus is dominating the aircrafts manufacturing market with a market share of approximately 50%. Although there exist other aircraft producers around the world, for example in Russia (e.g. Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association is the largest manufacturer there) and China (e.g. China Aviation Industry Company I + II), their impact in the world industry is more or less negligible. The customer base of those manufacturers mainly comprises airlines from Asian countries like Russia and Vietnam.
