Airbus to Build $600 Million Aircraft Manufacturing Plant in US
Airbus has announced that it will build a $600 million aircraft manufacturing plant in Mobile Alabama. The plant is slated to come online and provide many jobs for Alabama residents. Alabama is quite good at attracting manufacturing facilities such as Mercedes, Nissan and other automobile manufacturers and is known for their tax incentives and pro-business stance. Think on the global competitiveness of the commercial aviation sector. Mobile Alabama is growing nice and has been moving forward with new housing tracts, retail centers, tourist destination locations and a growing and vibrant middle class.
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Material Memory and NASA High Tech Plastics for Rotor Blades
I propose manufacturing these poly plastic blades for smaller UAV craft. Since they are made of polymer plastic blends it will be possible to add in some material memory manufacturing in the process. Material memory manufacturing with new high-tech NASA plastics will significantly increase performance characteristics and flight agility in future aerospace designs and we should definitely be thinking here and make use of these new materials to serve our needs. By using this technique we could increase the take off weight and allow the UAV VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) Helicopter to move quickly into position and then hover for much longer periods of time without using up all its fuel in route, thus allowing it an increased range for use in Natural Disasters, wartime, search and rescue, surveillance or commercial applications. These materials are said to be ten times the strength of steel and three times lighter than aluminum.
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Mexico to Manufacture Aircraft
It appears Mexico with its 120 million population is considering getting into the lucrative aviation manufacturing sector. Mexico is sending its team of aviation specialists to the Ukraine to look into manufacturing new parts, spare parts, fuselages and wing assemblies as well as setting up certified repair stations. This agreement does not affect the United States in anyway, but the Mi Helicopter series does include the Mi-24 pictured here. The Ukrainian President announced the two countries may draft an agreement to protect their investments and relief for problems with double taxation. Not so sure this is a good piece of news for the Department of Homeland Security? That is rather close to our already leaking borders.
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General Aviation Manufacturing is in the Tank; Hang On It is Going to Get Worse
Even if the aircraft manufacturing industry survives in the US it will have to share more of that world market with other countries like India and China. India is also manufacturing UAVs with large factories going up as we speak. Some say it is to save money in manufacturing which is a serious consideration with workmen's compensation, insurance benefits, labor unions, over regulation and lawsuits taking their toll. Yet Airbus is doing the same thing by building component plants in China, Boeing already builds air surface aircraft components there. Just as Airbus was able to take over 50% of the market share from Boeing after the MacDonald Douglas merger, India will take it's chunk of the UAV and private plane market and eventually divide further the airliner manufacturing sector.
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Private Jet Ownership Indeed
Where would you like to fly today? Think about it. Fractional Jet ownership has never been easy. As a matter of fact manufacturers of business aircraft are quite happy with the market sector and most are completely bullish on their future prospects in the industry. Private jet ownership is really taking off these days. There is much interest in the private transportation sector and jet aircraft business.
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India Air Traffic Issues to Come
Additionally India's private aircraft markets are increasing too along with a brand new general aviation manufacturing sector. New runways, taxi ways, landing systems, air traffic control towers, terminals, parking, emergency services, environmental care, conveyor belts, check in systems, security, cargo warehouses, IT Systems, computers, air-conditioning and all the private sector hotels, car rentals, ground transportation interface and trucking terminals. Think about how big this really is for a country growing this fast. As aircraft become larger there are even more issues as a 747 or the new Airbus A380 unloading puts 1000's of people in the terminal all at once and connecting flights wait for the bottle neck. If you are traveling to India expect delays, traffic, inconvenience as the airports work thru their growing pains.
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