Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by DollarGuru 2442 days ago
Maybe a silly question but it seems these big high ticket businesses like Boeing and Airbus cannot provide affordable aircraft and survive without some government intervention and the bar to entry is too high for new players so why not come to some international agreement on how they are supported by government instead?

It's seems better to have 2 manufacturers supported by government than to have only 1 that essentially owns the whole market.
2 comments
camillomiller 2441 days ago
Especially considering that the best candidate to become a third relevant subject would be Comac, the Chinese state-subsidized manufacturer...
link
defertoreptar 2441 days ago
Boeing contends otherwise:

> Myth: Aerospace is different from other industries and requires some level of government support.

> Fact: Boeing has proven otherwise. We have financed all of our new airplane programs without the kind of government handout that launch aid represents.

http://www.boeing.com/company/key-orgs/government-operations...

link
inferiorhuman 2441 days ago
Do you expect Boeing to come out and say they accept subsidies when their whole business model is to sue the competition?

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-boein...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/boeings-historic-t...

Boeing doesn't necessarily get direct subsidies but they get hefty tax breaks. Boeing will almost certainly get bailed out by the feds if the MAX or 777X come close to bankrupting them.

link
defertoreptar 2441 days ago
> Do you expect Boeing to come out and say they accept subsidies when their whole business model is to sue the competition?

I don't have to, since Boeing already came out and said as much on the URL I posted. They make a distinction between legal and illegal subsidies recognized by the WTO.

link
blub 2441 days ago
The WTO found that they were and are being illegally subsidized [1]. Maybe they're saying that they're not getting a particular type of subsidy.

But it's clear that both these companies are getting a ton of government contracts and have a special relationship with the US/EU.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-28/wto-issue...

link