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There seems to be an assumption that if Boeing is allowed to fail, no other American company or companies could ever fill its place and compete with Airbus. Is

There seems to be an assumption that if Boeing is allowed to fail, no other American company or companies could ever fill its place and compete with Airbus. Is this really the case? Boeing had to get the Commerce Department's help to kill Bombardier, a Canadian aerospace company, when they couldn't compete with its narrow-body airliner. Boeing lost to SpaceX, a young company, in the Commercial Crew Program.

sofixa 5y ago
Commercial aircraft is a very know-how and capital investment heavy business with huge risk and long lead times. The number of companies that could replace Boeing is very small ( Lockheed Martin, maybe General Dynamics) and none of them seem to want to ( Lockheed exited the business decades ago).
tw04 5y ago
I don't think the US is willing to risk the disruption to the military pipeline if they were to fail. You would literally have to have a "planned breakup" that would likely take a decade to dismantle. Bankruptcy isn't an option. Could it EVENTUALLY be replaced by other companies? Sure. Would the US military be OK having their logistics on weapons disabled for 12+ months? Seems unlikely.
- dingaling 5y ago
  Boeing's military division is discrete from commercial with the exception of the P-8 and KC-46. Not just geographically but also in terms of inherited knowledge and philosophy.
- bryanlarsen 5y ago
  Why is bankruptcy not an option? The government would never allow a chapter 7 (liquidation), but a chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy should not significantly disrupt operations.
  - throw0101a 5y ago
    See also Chrysler and GM: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reorganization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reor... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Chapter_11_reorganization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Chapter_11_reorganiza...

sofixa 5y ago

Commercial aircraft is a very know-how and capital investment heavy business with huge risk and long lead times. The number of companies that could replace Boeing is very small ( Lockheed Martin, maybe General Dynamics) and none of them seem to want to ( Lockheed exited the business decades ago).

tw04 5y ago

I don't think the US is willing to risk the disruption to the military pipeline if they were to fail. You would literally have to have a "planned breakup" that would likely take a decade to dismantle. Bankruptcy isn't an option. Could it EVENTUALLY be replaced by other companies? Sure. Would the US military be OK having their logistics on weapons disabled for 12+ months? Seems unlikely.

dingaling 5y ago
Boeing's military division is discrete from commercial with the exception of the P-8 and KC-46. Not just geographically but also in terms of inherited knowledge and philosophy.
bryanlarsen 5y ago
Why is bankruptcy not an option? The government would never allow a chapter 7 (liquidation), but a chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy should not significantly disrupt operations.
- throw0101a 5y ago
  See also Chrysler and GM: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reorganization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Chapter_11_reor... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Chapter_11_reorganization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Chapter_11_reorganiza...