EU isn’t just selling aircraft to China. It’s helping strengthen a competitor

AI Summary

The EU's sale of aircraft to China, including a recent $9.35 billion order for Airbus A330neos by China Eastern, inadvertently aids the growth of a Chinese competitor in the commercial aircraft sector, despite Europe's geopolitical rivalry with China.

Last month, China Eastern ordered 25 A330neo jets from Airbus, which come at a catalogue price of US$9.35 billion. The airline, which operates the inaugural commercial routes of the C919, China’s home-grown passenger jet, had placed another Airbus order just three months earlier. Why is this major Chinese airline transferring billions to a European company China’s government is trying to supplant? As a widebody jet, the A330neo competes in a segment where the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of...