N-250 finally flies
N-250 finally flies
Indonesia's 190 million people, with a per capita income of
US$885, should feel extremely proud that their first wholly
domestically made airplane, once rejected as a futile, wasteful
project by detractors and pessimists, did fly after all.
It is not exaggerating to consider yesterday's successful
maiden flight of the 70-seat commuter aircraft, the turboprop N-
250, one of the crowning achievements of Indonesia's 50 years as
a sovereign nation.
Despite the controversy over the allocating of so many
resources for such a capital and technology intensive industry,
the N-250 airplane proves Indonesia's capability to master
aerospace technology, so far the monopoly of the industrialized
countries with per capita incomes of more than $10,000.
We fully share the view of State Minister for Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie, that his brainchild -- the Industri
Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) aerospace company -- should not
be assessed only from its immediate economic benefits. It must
also be seen in terms of the training and development of the
16,000 skilled persons working at the company. We fully agree
that investments in human resources fuel a continuous generation
of value added (through a continuous rise in productivity), while
the accumulation of physical assets increases productivity only
once.
However, the successful maiden flight is only the beginning of
a series of formidable tasks to be faced in the process of
convincing international airline companies of the technical and
commercial viability of the airplane. The first challenge
involves the process of obtaining an airworthiness certificate
from the United States Federal Aviation Administration -- a
prerequisite for the access by the commercial aircraft to the
international market.
The government's decision to establish a joint venture to
manufacture the N-250 in Alabama, the United States, could pave
the way toward acquiring international certification from the FAA
and could help solve the problem of establishing efficient
networks of distribution for spare parts. One of the biggest
complaints of the buyers of the CN-235 aircraft, which was
developed jointly by IPTN and Casa of Spain, is the difficulty in
getting spare parts.
Certification by FAA is not, however, an automatic guarantee
of market success. N-250 has yet to compete with similar aircraft
from other countries which, in so far as high-technology and the
level of economic development are concerned, are much more
advanced than Indonesia. They also are better known in the
international market. In light of that, we must admit that
Indonesia's image in the international market is still largely
that of a supplier of light industrial goods made from imported
components or materials.
We also fully realize that technical reliability is only one
of the factors which influence the marketing of such big-ticket,
high-tech products as airplanes. In fact, given the keen market
competition, the support of credit financing with lenient terms
counts greatly. That is especially crucial for marketing
turboprop airplanes because purchases are expected mostly from
buyers in developing countries, where airline companies are not
as financially strong as their counterparts in the developed
countries.
Therefore, besides rejoicing over the successful maiden flight
of N-250, we should now gear up for the next bout of formidable
challenges to making the project a complete success. The N-250
can be considered a full success when the volume of its sales
exceeds the break-even point of 260 units. In view of the great
controversy already caused by the project, a market failure like
that suffered by the supersonic Concorde aircraft might make the
N-250 aircraft, or even the whole IPTN organization, an
embarrassment, or even lead to a resource wastage scandal.