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Comment by FooBarWidget | original | Why jet engines aren't made in China
[−]FooBarWidget · 2026-07-02 Thu 05:45 UTC · link
What from I understand the issue is mainly service frequency rather than fuel efficiency.

Also, the domestic commercial jet market is still sizable, so excluding the domestic market from analyses is kinda weird.

Finally, lots of countries are spooked by arbitrary US sanctions and want to diversify.

[−]ifwinterco · 2026-07-02 Thu 06:02 UTC · link
Yes I think eventually they will catch up because the Chinese domestic market is big enough to give them a market while they iterate.

With petrol/diesel engines they just gave up and went straight to electric, but there's no viable alternative to jet engines for planes, so they'll put in the work (plus the military incentive running in parallel)

[−]rbanffy · 2026-07-02 Thu 07:59 UTC · link
> no viable alternative to jet engines for planes

No, but regional aviation can be well served by electrification - a jet engine needs to run at a speed it pushed enough air through itself to propel the plane forward, but a turbine feeding a generator that powers a couple electric motors can run at a far more forgiving regime.

As pointed out elsewhere, all it might take is a paradigm shift to unseat the current incumbents.