The Chinese ICON A5 Just Outclassed America's Best-Selling Amphibious Plane

The Chinese ICON A5 Just Outclassed America's Best-Selling Amphibious Plane America's best-selling amphibious aircraft has held its position in the market on the strength of proven reliability, strong dealer networks, and a customer base that has been buying the same basic platform for years. The Chinese A5 has arrived with a modern composite airframe, lower operating costs, better range, and avionics that the aircraft it is competing against cannot match without expensive upgrades. The amphibious market was one of the segments Western manufacturers believed was safe from Chinese competition. The A5 has made that assumption look premature.