China’s air freight market becomes bright spot for Boeing amid US trade tensions, 737 MAX grounding

Name: Boeing 737 MAX resumes passenger flights in the US after 2-year suspension
Uploaded: 2021-05-27T16:30:07.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: Boeing 737 MAX resumes passenger flights in the US after 2-year suspension

Political friction between China and the United States has meant no Chinese orders for new Boeing passenger planes since 2017

But in May 2020, China Cargo Airlines which is owned by China Eastern Airlines, placed an order for two 777 widebody freighters

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Air freight rates have skyrocketed as demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels while overall capacity is much reduced due to the drop-off in passenger flights that carry cargo in the planes’ bellies. Photo: Bloomberg

Reuters

Published: 12:30am, 28 May 2021Updated: 10:36am, 28 May 2021

Boeing, struggling in China with sales of passenger planes due to trade tensions and the grounding of its 737 MAX, is upbeat about the outlook for freighter plane sales there as e-commerce demand booms.

A three-year deadlock on Boeing plane orders was broken in May 2020 when China Cargo Airlines, owned by China Eastern Airlines, placed an order for two 777 widebody freighters. Boeing’s website shows 24 of the type have been delivered to China.

“We’ve seen this really explosive demand for dedicated freighter airplanes in the last year,” said Richard Wynne, managing director of China marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Though political friction between China and the United States has meant no Chinese orders for new Boeing passenger planes since 2017, Boeing’s dominance of the freighter market makes it harder to bypass.

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Boeing 737 MAX resumes passenger flights in the US after 2-year suspension

Around 90 per cent of the world’s freighters are Boeing planes. Sources have said, however, that rival Airbus is canvassing interest in a freighter version of its A350 passenger jet.

Boeing’s products include new-build freighters like the 747, 777 and 767 as well as conversions of older 737 and 767 passenger planes.