[My comment: for decades now companies have basically said, forget America, think global - look at all those people over there! Never mind that it's hard to buy first world goods on third world incomes. Now this. When are they going to come home and produce and hire for the domestic market?]

China Wins First Orders for Plane, Breaking Airbus-Boeing Grip
By Bloomberg News - Nov 16, 2010 3:10 AM MT

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China announced its first 100 C919 passenger-plane orders, breaking Airbus SAS and Boeing Co.’s stranglehold on the world’s second- largest aircraft market.

General Electric Co.’s leasing arm and China’s big three domestic airlines are among customers for the narrowbody plane, state-controlled Comac said in a statement issued at the Zhuhai air show in southern China today. Chinese airlines accounted for more than half the orders, said Zhang Xinguo, vice president of Comac shareholder, Aviation Industry Corp. of China.

Comac has a full-sized model of the front section of the aircraft on display at the show as it challenges Boeing and Airbus’s grip on a domestic plane market that could be worth $480 billion through 2029, according to Boeing. The Chinese planemaker expects to sell more than 2,000 C919s worldwide over 20 years competing against Boeing and Airbus’s most popular jets.

“The aircraft is of national importance,â€