喷气式飞机制造商空中客车（Airbus）的母公司欧洲宇航防务集团（EADS）近年来加大了与宿敌波音公司（Boeing）的竞争力度，使两大飞机制造业巨头之间错综复杂的战争提升到了一个新阶段。据消息人士透露，EADS将在美国南部阿拉巴马州的莫比尔市兴建一个新工厂。这也将是空客在西半球开设的第一个工厂，此举或将威胁波音对美国喷气机市场的统治地位。

    虽然这家工厂一开始将主要承担空客最新的A320单通道飞机的生产任务，但未来EADS也有利用该厂生产军用飞机的可能，届时它将成为波音公司的噩梦。因为EADS可以轻易地对该工厂进行扩展或改装，使它可以支持EADS日益增长的防卫业务，比如用来生产欧洲直升机公司（Eurocopter）的攻击直升机，或是先进的喷气式战斗机和支援飞机等。随着北美工厂的建立运营，再加上EADS已经在美国招聘了数千名工人，EADS很可能从波音公司抢走一大笔利润可观的军事合同，使波音与空客在全球飞机市场的竞争更加利益攸关。

    波音和空客的单通道飞机市场大战已经打了一年多了，两家都在努力争抢新客户，这些新客户想要的则是更新、更节省燃油的机型。虽然单通道飞机市场的新闻很难在媒体上成为头条，但它对于两家公司的商用航空部门来说却是最大的利润中心。因此尽管空客的A380巨无霸飞机和充满未来主义风格的波音787飞机也十分重要，但波音和空客并不指望它们最主要的摇钱树。去年波音737单通道飞机大约为波音民用航空事业部贡献了40%的收入，利润则超过了该部门总利润的一半。

    据波音公司估算，未来20年，单通道飞机市场的价值可能将达到近2万亿美金。市场需求主要来自亚洲，这也就是为什么波音和空客都宣布将在中国投资建设民用飞机制造厂。无论是对于波音还是对于空客，亚洲的工厂都将是他们在各自的主要市场之外开设的第一批民用飞机制造设施。

    尽管亚洲市场增长迅速，但世界上拥有最多民航飞机的国家还是美国。美国的航空公司已经持续多年投资不足，这意味着它们现在都急需更新设备，因此美国也成了继亚洲之后的第二大喷气式飞机市场。

    波音在美国市场仍占有一定的优势地位，不过空客也正在缓慢地攫取市场份额。去年波音遭受了一次重大打击，几十年来一直只使用波音飞机的美国航空公司（American Airlines）突然宣布将从空客订购260架A320单通道飞机。未来波音的情况可能会更糟，去年刚刚收购了大陆航空公司（Continental Airlines）的美国联合航空公司（United Airlines）有望在下月的伦敦范堡罗国际航展（Farnborough Airshow）上订购100架单通道飞机。据传空客有可能通过这笔订单攫取到更多的市场份额。

    难怪空客想在美国建立一个新工厂。据报道，这家工厂每月将可生产4至6架单通道飞机。要完成美国航空公司的260架订单，以及美联航的100架订单，大概需要5年到7年半的时间。此外，其他航空公司也有可能向空客抛来橄榄枝，比如全美航空公司（US Airways）本来就大量使用空客的飞机，如果它继续下单的话，那么空客的美国工厂在未来十年里都不会闲着。

    EADS, the parent company of jet maker Airbus, has upped the ante in its long-running blood feud with Boeing, setting the stage for a messy battle between the two aerospace giants. According to a person with knowledge of the matter, the European conglomerate is set to announce the construction of a new manufacturing facility for its Airbus aircraft in the heart of Dixie -- Mobile, Alabama. It would be Airbus's first manufacturing plant in the western hemisphere, threatening Boeing's grip over the US jet market.

    But while the facility will be at first tuned to construct Airbus's new A320 single-aisle aircraft, the potential for EADS to also use the facility to manufacture military equipment could end up becoming a nightmare for Boeing (BA). EADS could easily expand or convert the future plant to support its growing defense businesses, like its popular Eurocopter attack helicopters or its cutting-edge jet fighters and support aircraft. With a facility up and running in the US and already staffed with thousands of American workers, EADS could nab quite a few lucrative military contracts away from Boeing, raising the stakes in the global aerospace wars.

    The battle for the single-aisle jet market has raged for over a year now with both Boeing and Airbus competing fiercely for new customers wanting newer and more fuel-efficient models. While the single-aisle jet market hardly grabs headlines, it is actually the biggest profit center for the two companies' commercial aviation divisions. So while Airbus' superjumbo A380 and Boeing's futuristic 787 are important, the truth is, they aren't the big money makers. For example, Boeing's single-aisle 737 aircraft accounts for around 40% of the US aerospace giant's commercial aviation revenue and well over half the division's profits last year.

    Boeing estimates that the single-aisle market could be worth nearly $2 trillion over the next 20 years. The majority of that demand is expected to come from Asia, which is why both Boeing and Airbus have announced plans to construct new commercial aircraft manufacturing plants in China. For both companies, the Asian plants would be their first commercial aircraft manufacturing facilities to be located outside their respective home markets.

    But while Asia is a rapidly growing market, the US is still home to the largest commercial aviation fleet in the world. Years of underinvestment by US airlines means that they are in dire need of new equipment, making the US the second largest market for new jet aircraft behind Asia.

    Boeing aircraft still has the upper hand in the US market, but Airbus has been slowly taking market share. Boeing sustained a big hit last year when American Airlines, which had maintained a Boeing-only fleet for decades, announced it was ordering 260 new single-aisle A320s from Airbus. It could soon get worse. United Airlines (UAL), which absorbed Continental Airlines last year, is expected to announce a new order for 100 single-aisle aircraft at the Farnborough airshow in the United Kingdom next month. There is talk that Airbus could snatch even more market share in that deal.

    It is no wonder that Airbus would want to then create a new production facility in the US. With the facility scheduled to reportedly pump out four to six new single-aisle jets a month, it could construct American's 260 and the United's potential 100 aircraft orders in five to seven-and-a half years. New orders from other airlines, like US Airways, which already extensively uses Airbus aircraft, could keep the plant humming for a decade or more.

    最大的竞争对手在自家后院设厂可能会让波音感到“很受伤”，不过从经济上看，这也不是什么大不了的事。毕竟波音已经失去了这些美国订单，所以这些飞机究竟是在美国还是在法国生产，也就无所谓了。

    波音真正应该担心的是，EADS可能可利用空客的扩张，加强对华盛顿的影响力。毕竟说到底，虽然民用航空对两家公司也很重要，但更重要的是国防和航天业务。对于波音来说，它的两种业务基本贡献了相等的收入和利润。而EADS的国防和航天业务却贡献了总收入和利润的三分之二，只有另外三分之一是来自空客的民航业务收入。

    波音和美国其他的军火承包商之所以能主宰美国的军火市场主要是因为他们与国会的军火商利益代表保持着紧密的关系。EADS也对美国国会进行游说，推动军火合同，但它有一个致命的缺点——它在美国缺乏一个大型的生产实体。波音和美国其它军火承包商把大多数生产放在国内进行，因此支持这些军火合同就是支持为美国创造工作机会。

    于是EADS也变聪明了，它意识到，如果想在美国扩张市场，就必须把生产设施迁移到美国。因此，EADS2004年在密西西比为其欧洲的直升机部门开设了一家组装工厂后，该公司在美国攻击直升机市场上的份额翻了一番。

    在直升机领域取得胜利后，EADS又在另一个领域对波音发起挑战——这回是一张400亿美元的美军空中加油机订单。EADS承诺将在莫比尔的新工厂生产这些加油机，可问题是当时这个工厂还没立建立起来。但波音的工厂是现成的，波音计划把产品线中的一款民航飞机改装成空中加油机。经过好几年的角力，EADS最终败北，并且损失了数亿美元。

    在加油机合同中输给波音的经历可谓十分惨痛，换做其他公司，经历了这样的失败可能就直接放弃，打道回府了。但EADS是个百折不挠的竞争对手。它知道，它的军用和民用飞机业务要想有所突破，就必须在美国扩大自己的市场份额。

    但光是口头承诺开设工厂还不够——这个工厂必须真正建立起来。把一份合同交给一个已经投产的工厂，保住几千人的工作，这在政治上的说服力远远高于把合同交给一个还没建成、或者还没招到工人的工厂。

    通过在美国成立一家功能完备的生产工厂，雇佣数以千计的美国工人，EADS摇身一变，也成了一家“美国”工厂。下一次与波音竞争政府合同时，它的机会就会大得多。消除了波音的“地利”优势，再加上对华盛顿的战略游说，EADS的竞争地位将大大改善。波音也要小心应对，否则很快它就会发现，自己在两大主要业务领域上都将处于守势。

    译者：朴成奎

    But while it may bruise Boeing's ego to have its biggest commercial aircraft competitor roll out new planes in its own backyard, it isn't that big of deal, financially speaking. After all, Boeing already lost those American orders, so it really doesn't matter if the planes are constructed in Mobile or in Toulouse.

    What Boeing should be worried about is EADS using this Airbus expansion to augment its influence in Washington. After all, while commercial aircraft is important for the two companies, their defense and space business is almost as, or even more important to their respective bottom lines. For Boeing, its revenues and profits are split nearly equally between the two business lines, while at EADS defense and space makes up two-thirds of its revenues and profits, with the other third coming from Airbus.

    Boeing and the other US defense subcontractors have been able to maintain their dominance over the US market by maintaining very close relations with their representatives in Congress. EADS also lobbies Congress and pushes for contracts, but it always had one fatal flaw – it didn't maintain a big manufacturing presence in the US. Boeing and other US subcontractors kept the bulk of their manufacturing at home, so a vote for them was a vote for US jobs.

    EADS got smart and realized that if it wanted to gain a bigger presence in the US it had to relocate its production facilities to the states. When it opened up an assembly plant for its Eurocopter helicopter division in Mississippi in 2004, EADS saw its US market share of attack helicopters double.

    High off its Eurocopter victory, EADS later challenged Boeing for a $40 billion contract to build refueling tanker aircraft for the US military. EADS promised to build its tanker in Mobile, but it hadn't built the facilities yet. Meanwhile, Boeing's facilities were already built - it planned to use a modified version of one of its commercial aircraft to do the job. After years of back and forth, EADS ultimately lost out to Boeing in a multi-year drama that cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

    The grueling experience competing with Boeing over the tanker contract would have been enough for most companies to simply give up and run back home. But EADS is a tough competitor. It knows that if it wants to push the needle in both it's commercial and defense businesses it has to build its market share in US.

    But promising to build a facility doesn't seem to be good enough -- it needs to built. The political drive to save thousands of jobs by handing a new contract to a facility that is already humming is far more powerful than handing the contract to a facility that has yet to be built or staffed.

    By establishing a full manufacturing plant now and employing thousands of American workers, EADS is setting itself up to be as "American" as Boeing the next time it chooses to bid on another government contract. Wiping out the national champion advantage, along with some strategic lobbying in Washington, should effectively level the playing field for EADS. Boeing would be wise to step up its game as it could soon find itself on the defensive on both of its main business lines.