小型喷气机制造商抢滩中国市场

U.S. makers of small aircraft increasingly are teaming up with Chinese companies, deciding that the need to ply the growing market outweighs the risk that their partners will become rivals.
越来越多的美国小型飞机制造商准备与中国企业联手以求打入中国市场。他们认为，共同开发中国这个高增长市场的必要性超过了中国合作伙伴可能成为其竞争对手的风险。
In the last few months, business-plane makers Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft Corp. have discussed joint ventures in the country. Industry supplier Honeywell International Inc. signed several initial agreements last year. Non-U.S. companies are moving in, too: Brazil's Embraer SA last month said it would consider transforming a Chinese joint-venture plant for small commercial jets to turn out executive planes.
过去几个月，商务飞机制造商塞斯纳飞行器公司(Cessna Aircraft Co.)和豪客比奇公司(Hawker Beechcraft Corp.)一直在探讨在中国筹建合资企业一事。行业供应商霍尼韦尔(Honeywell International Inc.)去年也签署了几份草签协议。非美资企业也有所动作：巴西航空工业公司(Embraer SA)上个月说，将考虑把中国一家生产小型商务飞机的合资工厂改造为一家制造公务机的企业。
China has grown more attractive as the industry otherwise has shrunk. Honeywell in October estimated that 600 to 650 new business jets would be delivered industrywide last year, down from 732 in 2010 because of global economic weakness. Cessna, a unit of Textron Inc., expects China to become the world's No. 2 business-aircraft market, after the U.S., within roughly 15 years.
由于这一产业在其它市场已经萎缩，中国市场因此变得更具吸引力。去年10月，霍尼韦尔估计，去年整个行业交付的新商务机数量在600至650架之间，低于2010年的732架，这主要是全球经济疲软造成的。美国德事隆有限公司(Textron Inc.)旗下企业塞斯纳预计，大约15年之内中国将成为仅次于美国的全球第二大商务机市场。
"Everyone's jockeying for position now, trying to figure out . . . Who do I partner with? How do I get the right access?" says Briand Greer, Asian-Pacific president of Honeywell Aerospace.
霍尼韦尔亚太区总裁高博安(Briand Greer)说，大家都在抢占中国市场，努力想弄明白该与谁合作以及如何找到合适的途径等问题。
Cessna last month signed an agreement with a unit of state-controlled Aviation Industry Corp. of China to establish a joint venture in the western city of Chengdu, where Cessna plans to build midsize business jets and co-develop a larger jet. The Wichita, Kan., company also reached an agreement with AVIC, as the Chinese company is known, for broader cooperation on general aviation, a category that excludes military and commercial aircraft.
塞斯纳上个月与国有控股的中国航空工业集团公司(Aviation Industry Corp. of China，简称：中航工业)旗下一家子公司签署了一项协议，准备在中国西部城市成都建立合资企业。塞斯纳打算利用这个合资企业生产中型商务机，并与合作伙伴一道开发一种大型喷气机。总部位于美国堪萨斯州威奇托(Wichita)的塞斯纳与中航工业还达成了一项在通用机领域展开更广阔合作的协议。通用机不包括军用和商用飞机。
"If you have the ability to produce local content in the market, it gives you the ability to understand your customers better, to react quicker," says Cessna Chief Executive Scott Ernest.
坐飞机怎样远离感冒？塞斯纳的首席执行长厄内斯特(Scott Ernest)说，如果能在中国进行本地化生产，就能更好地了解客户，并且更快地做出反应。
Shawn Vick, an executive vice president at Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft, said at a recent news briefing in Shanghai that his company had "entertained discussions with four separate entities for joint-venture activities inside China."
总部位于威奇托的豪客比奇的执行副总裁维克(Shawn Vick)前不久在上海举行新闻发布会时说，该公司已与四家企业开会讨论了关于在华成立合资企业一事。
Labor costs also are part of China's lure. "Our competitors in Brazil or in Switzerland can charge lower labor rates than we can in the U.S. and labor is a big component of building the airplane," says Sean McGeough, Hawker Beechcraft's president for Europe, the Mideast, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
劳动力成本也是中国市场的吸引力之一。豪客比奇负责欧洲、中东、非洲和亚太市场的总裁麦古(Sean McGeough)说，我们在巴西或瑞士的竞争对手支付的劳务费用比我们在美国支付的要低，劳动力成本占飞机制造成本的很大一部分。

The aircraft maker, suffering from a long slump in demand for business jets and uncertainty over military spending, recently hired a turnaround specialist and bankruptcy counsel.
豪客比奇目前正受到商务机需求长期不振和军费开支不确定等因素的影响。前不久该公司聘请了一位危机处理专家和一位破产顾问。
Honeywell, based in Morristown, N.J., reached five agreements last year with Chinese aerospace companies, including one for the development of a general-aviation cockpit. Honeywell also makes aircraft engines and other aerospace products.
总部位于新泽西州莫里斯敦(Morristown)的霍尼韦尔去年与几家中国航空公司签署了五项协议，其中一项是研发通用航空驾驶舱。此外，霍尼韦尔还制造飞机引擎和其它航空航天产品。
China's business and general-aviation sector is in its infancy. Honeywell's Mr. Greer estimates that the country has about 1,000 business and general-aviation aircraft, compared with roughly 225,000 in the U.S.
中国的商务和通用航空业还处于起步阶段。据霍尼韦尔的亚太区总裁高博安估计，目前中国商务机和通用机加起来不过1,000架左右，而美国则有约225,000架。
But industry experts expect China's number to rise with the country's wealth and as Beijing relaxes aviation regulations.
但业内专家认为，中国商务机和通用机的数量将随着中国富裕程度的增加以及北京对航空管制的放松而不断增加。
Setting up joint ventures, which generally are required by Beijing for foreign companies establishing significant operations in the country, can be troublesome. Such partnerships have given a technological lift to Chinese companies in other industries, such as automobiles.
一般来说，中国政府会要求希望在华运营重要业务的外国公司在中国成立合资公司，而合资公司的成立可能会颇费周折。这种伙伴关系已让中国公司在汽车等其它行业获得了技术升级的机会。
"curve here is you continue to innovate faster than the things you're bringing to market," Mr. Greer says.
航空业高管说，他们要紧跟技术发展步伐，以领先于中国的潜在竞争对手。高博安说，在知识产权方面真正能够保持领先一步的唯一方法，就是持续创新的速度要快于产品发布的速度。
Cessna's Mr. Ernest says Volkswagen AG's Audi unit and General Motors Co. have succeeded in navigating such shoals. "It's not any different from what Audi's done or what GM's done," he says, referring to his company's joint-venture plans.
塞斯纳的首席执行长厄内斯特说，大众汽车(Volkswagen AG)旗下奥迪(Audi)子公司和通用汽车公司(General Motors Co.)就成功避开了这些浅滩。他说，塞斯纳的合资计划与奥迪及通用汽车所做的没有任何不同。
The competitive threat from China also is rising as the country builds its own ability to take on global aerospace rivals. Last June, an AVIC unit acquired Minnesota-based private-aircraft maker Cirrus Industries Inc., giving the Chinese company access to a line of light propeller aircraft and a small jet under development.
在中国培育自身实力以迎接全球航空公司的挑战之际，来自中国的竞争威胁也与日俱增。去年6月，中航工业旗下的一家公司收购了总部位于美国明尼苏达州的私人飞机制造商西锐飞机工业公司(Cirrus Industries Inc.)，由此获得了一个轻型螺旋桨飞机生产线以及一种正在研发中的小型喷气机。
Despite such challenges, foreign companies still are looking at deals.
尽管面临着诸多挑战，外国公司仍在考虑相关交易。
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. President Larry Flynn says his company has "not in the least ruled out China for manufacturing capabilities." Gulfstream, a unit of General Dynamics Corp., currently focuses its investment in China on building up maintenance, repair and overhaul capacity.
通用动力公司(General Dynamics Corp.)旗下的湾流航空航天公司(Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.)总裁弗林(Larry Flynn)说，我们绝没有否认中国的生产能力。该公司目前在中国的投资主要集中在提高维护、修理和解体检修能力方面。
Andrew Galbraith