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Stepping up into the biggest end of commercial aviation is a big, big ask. There are already a number of aircraft manufacturers playing in the next tier - Bomb

Stepping up into the biggest end of commercial aviation is a big, big ask. There are already a number of aircraft manufacturers playing in the next tier - Bombardier (Dash 8), Embraer (EMB 120), Fokker (F50) and others. I can't really see them ever building something the size of a 787 or A380, but I concede it could be possible. Looking at existing manufacturers, I think Antonov may stand a chance. They already have the AN-124 and AN-225, which might be engineered into passenger configuration. With regards to new players, I was reading an article about the Indian company Mahindra yesterday[1]. They have ambitious aerospace plans, already some exposure to the sector through their purchase of GippsAero[2], obviously with much smaller aircraft, but also are located in a fast growing market. The article mentions Boeing's expectation of over 1,000 new commercial airliners needed in India by 2020. Maybe this is your new lean, hungry company. [1] http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/indian-automobile-maker-mahindra-eyes-aerospace-381544/?cmpid=SOC|FGFG|twitterfeed|Flightglobal http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/indian-automobile-... [2] http://www.gippsaero.com http://www.gippsaero.com

assemble 14y ago
Bombardier also build CRJs, business jets (Globals, Challengers and Learjets), does government work and builds fire-fighting aircraft. Oh, and the C-Series is a brand new a/c entering into the lower end of the Boeing market. That being said, building even these small aircraft is a multi-billion dollar investment. If people here think that software design is hard. It takes a monumental amount of work to design a commercial aircraft and the manufacturing processes around it. Oh, and then there is the test phase. That part is fun.