Boeing Co. CEO Dave Calhoun brushed down rumours that the duopoly now maintained by the American aircraft manufacturer and its European rival Airbus SE may expire after China’s first commercial flight of its homegrown C919 narrowbody jet.

A C919 carrying passengers from Shanghai to Beijing on Sunday by China Eastern Airlines 600115.SS marked a significant accomplishment for the company that made the aircraft, Commercial Aviation Corp of China (COMAC).

The C919 is a “good aeroplane,” according to Calhoun, but it will take a “long while” for COMAC to increase production enough to keep up with demand from Chinese carriers.

“Three providers in a growing global market of this size and scale should not be the most intimidating thought in the world,” Calhoun told reporters this week. “For us to get overly anxious about that, I think it’s a silly prospect.”

Boeing should concentrate on the opposition it already faces and position itself to “win that technology race,” according to Calhoun. China is still “our friend, our customer,” he continued, but owing to geopolitical unrest, trade may experience “fits and starts”.

Early this year, Chinese airlines started putting the 737 MAX back in use. All Chinese users have resumed 737 flights, but due to tensions between the United States and China, delivery of the aircraft have been put on hold.

After two incidents in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in a total of 346 fatalities, the Chinese aviation regulator released a study on the 737 in April, which was lauded by Calhoun at the time as an “important step” for restarting MAX deliveries.

In Charleston, South Carolina, where Boeing constructs the widebody 787 Dreamliner, Calhoun addressed the media on Tuesday during a media tour.

Several weeks before Boeing and Airbus square off in the orders bonanza of the Paris Air Show, Calhoun claimed that the American aircraft manufacturer could fend off dangers such as competing products and supply-chain snarls.

Calhoun retorted: “That does not give me heartburn.” Airbus is debating whether to introduce a stretched version of the A220, a move that would compete with Boeing’s best-selling 737 MAX 8.

According to Calhoun, it was unimportant for Boeing to retake a 50% market share for orders of narrowbody aircraft from Airbus.

Instead, Calhoun said that Boeing’s inability to deliver aircraft—first as a result of the MAX crisis in 2019 and then as a result of supply-chain and production issues—was the main cause of the company’s market share losses during the previous four years.

Calhoun also denied rumours that Boeing could want to re-acquire Spirit AeroSystems, a firm that was split off from Boeing in 2005 and produces important components for Airbus and 737 MAX aircraft as well as the forward fuselage of the 787.

In recent years, Spirit has been the cause of a number of issues that have hindered Boeing deliveries, including a 737 MAX bracket installation issue that has slowed deliveries ever since it was found in April.

“We are disappointed with every next issue that occurs that limits our rates and slows us down,” Calhoun said. However, those problems “are solvable, and I don’t think you acquire a company to solve it.”

(Adapted from USNews.com)