The aircraft industry is one of the clearest case studies of how capital intensity, long development cycles, and political pressure create near-unbreakable duopolies.
Bombardier spent around $7–8B developing the CSeries, but a steep discount to Delta triggered a 300% U.S. tariff, killing the program. Airbus later acquired it for $1.
I wrote a breakdown of what went wrong; engineering missteps, cost overruns, government intervention, and why COMAC may be the only realistic future challenger.
The aircraft industry is one of the clearest case studies of how capital intensity, long development cycles, and political pressure create near-unbreakable duopolies.
Bombardier spent around $7–8B developing the CSeries, but a steep discount to Delta triggered a 300% U.S. tariff, killing the program. Airbus later acquired it for $1.
I wrote a breakdown of what went wrong; engineering missteps, cost overruns, government intervention, and why COMAC may be the only realistic future challenger.