Commercial heavy aircraft
The need for large-scale air transportation has been central to commercial aircraft manufacturing. As one of the world’s most vital industries, airlines are key to many aspects of the world economy, from international business and tourism to routine movement of people and goods ranging from massive machinery to agricultural products and personal items. The United States has the largest number of airlines and purchases the most aircraft. In other countries there is one large flag carrier and, in some cases, intraregion private airlines. New independent low-cost carriers in the United States and Europe, particularly those flying shorter intercity routes, are also increasingly important customers.
The smaller civil airliners, those with 15–100 seats, are generally used as regional or commuter transports and may be either turboprops or jets. Although the United States has led in most aircraft-manufacturing categories, it has lacked a foothold in the regional service aircraft market. The consortium ATR (Avions de Transport Régional), formed as a partnership between France’s Aerospatiale and Italy’s Aeritalia, has established itself as the market leader with its turboprops. Other firms include Bombardier, Fairchild Dornier, Saab, and, until bankruptcy in 1996, the Dutch group Fokker, which had an extensive line of regional turboprops and jets. Manufacturers outside the Western group include Brazil’s Embraer, Indonesia’s IPTN (Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara), and Russia’s Ilyushin, Yakovlev, and Tupolev.
In the larger commercial aircraft sector, where seat capacity ranges from about 100 to 550, competition and massive investment risks have narrowed the number of suppliers competing for the world’s market to two—Boeing and Airbus. Together, these companies offer some 11 distinct aircraft families with numerous variations to accommodate the needs of individual users. Their customers are airlines, freight carriers, and, increasingly, leasing companies. At the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial industry of the former Soviet Union was in an uncertain state, but Russia’s design bureaus Tupolev and Ilyushin and Ukraine’s Antonov looked to Western cooperation and investments to sustain their output and to win customers outside the former Soviet bloc.
Military aircraft
The large majority of military aircraft are fighters, followed by bombers, transporter-tankers, early-warning and patrol aircraft, and a variety of propeller- and jet-driven trainers. As is the case with commercial aircraft, the complexity of the technology and the immense capital requirements have narrowed the number of suppliers. In addition, the end of the Cold War initially resulted in a steep decrease in the demand for military aircraft worldwide, although conflicts in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans in the 1990s identified the need to maintain significant air forces. Some developing countries purchase or build fighter and trainer aircraft for their own needs in order to maintain an indigenous aerospace/defense industry. (In some cases, purchase agreements with foreign suppliers include provisions for a measure of indigenous development and assembly and thus the transfer of technical knowledge and skills.)
In the United States two companies build fighters—Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In Europe, more so than in the United States, companies share in fighter production, an example being the Eurofighter Typhoon, developed in the mid 1980s and ’90s by Germany’s Dasa, British Aerospace, Italy’s Alenia, and Spain’s CASA and first flown in prototype in 1994. Companies operating independently with smaller fighter programs include France’s Dassault and Sweden’s Saab. With the exception of providing stealth features, European manufacturers market fighters comparable in capability to those of the United States throughout the world. In Russia only Sukhoy and MiG actively make fighters. Some companies have engaged in indigenous productions for national needs, among them Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, and Fuji in Japan, Taiwan’s Aero Industry Development Center, and India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Military transport aircraft are used to move troops and matériel such as tanks, automotive vehicles, and helicopters. With modifications they (as well as commercial airliners) serve as tankers for in-flight refueling. In comparison with freight versions of commercial aircraft, military transporters have special features such as short-takeoff-and-landing capability, loading ramps, airdrop capability, and paratroop doors. In the United States, Boeing builds the four-turbofan C-17 Globemaster III airlifter. Airbus Military, a subsidiary of Airbus Industrie, manages a multinational group of leading manufacturers in the development of the four-turboprop A400M transport for European air forces. Ukrainian manufacturer Antonov produces several transports, among them the An-225 Mriya, a six-turbofan design originally conceived to carry oversized external loads piggyback-style for the Soviet space program.
With the advent of missiles after World War II and later with the end of the Cold War, the need for new strategic bombers has become limited. Only one model, the Northrop Grumman B-2 flying wing, has had recent production in the U.S. Developed in the 1980s, the B-2, a stealth bomber with a weapons capacity of 23 tons, is the most expensive aircraft in the world, with a price of nearly $1 billion per plane.