Originally Posted by
pax britanica
I think in the end it comes down to size and scale . As has been poijnted out the US domestic market was enormous compared to the rest of the world and given the existence of requirements for short runway longish range-La Guarida
Hot Texas , High Denver and Long haul (for the day ) Transcons if you address the US market you address the world market.
Then there is the sheer scale of orders for US airlines compared to Uk and Europe so very very hard for anyone from Europe to compete , essentially Britain and France and add in the fragmented state of UK manufacturers it is another case of size matters.
Of course when we did the right thing in Europe and got Airbus Industry going (sadly the Brits drag their feet again) it demonstrated that the US are not omnipotent . I recall one book on Concorde I read said that the real benefit of Concorde was not the plane itself but the lessons the Brit and French learned working with each other to provide the foundation of Airbus-such a shame we are turning our backs on such ideas and reverting to little England again
Yet the world's recent turbo-prop leaders are ATR & DHC, France & Canada!