ExclusiveBoeing commits to China for the long haul, but no word on when 737 MAX will ‘safely return’ to service

Boeing’s business hasn’t been the same since the US-China trade war kicked off four years ago, but the company is looking decades down the line

Less than two months after Boeing said it would remarket 737 MAX jets earmarked for China, its sales vice-president says the embattled jet remains part of the firm’s future plans there

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Boeing still sees a bright future for its 737 MAX in China, despite no indication of when it might fly there again. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00am, 11 Nov 2022Updated: 8:59am, 11 Nov 2022

US aerospace giant Boeing says it is committed to supporting air transport in China over the next half-century, even as its business in the critical aviation market remains impeded by geopolitical entanglements between the superpowers.

Boeing has not been able to significantly expand its business in China since its trade war with the US began in 2018. And the aerospace firm’s biggest offering of planes to China – the 737 MAX line – has been grounded there for more than three years, following two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that left 346 dead.

In September, China certified its home-grown narrow-body C919 passenger jet, which was designed to compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320. The C919 is made by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), and the first one is expected to be delivered to China Eastern Airlines by the end of this year.

But despite the challenges and uncertainties ahead, China remains Boeing’s largest overseas commercial market, said Peter Gao, Boeing’s vice-president of commercial sales and marketing for Greater China.

Gao added that the company’s diversified investments in China – including in a completion-and-delivery facility in Zhoushan; a composite-parts factory in Tianjin; and a services centre and a training campus in Shanghai – plus its “close relationships with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), airlines and leasing customers and industrial partners”, will be the basis of Boeing’s future growth in China.

Even though the CAAC issued an airworthiness directive for the 737 MAX in December, China remains the only major market in the world where airlines have opted not to return the narrow-body jet to passenger flying.

“We continue to work with the CAAC and customers to safely return the 737 MAX to service in China,” Gao told the Post on the sidelines of the Zhuhai air show that kicked off on Tuesday.