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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

Exclusive | Boeing 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

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.

How US tech restrictions leave China’s aviation aspirations up in the air

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.

“I would like to reiterate our commitment to support China’s air transportation system in the next 50 years with our world-class products and services, including the 737 MAX, 787 Dreamliner and 777X families.”

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China debuts potential Boeing-Airbus rival as its biggest air show kicks off

China debuts potential Boeing-Airbus rival as its biggest air show kicks off

However, in September, senior executives at Boeing expressed pessimism about resuming 737 MAX deliveries in China, saying the company would start to remarket some 737 MAX jets earmarked for Chinese customers.

Meanwhile, Boeing is facing strong competition from rival Airbus, which has been gaining orders in China this year. Xiamen Airlines switched its entire fleet from Boeing to Airbus after placing an order for 40 A320neo narrow-body airliners in September. And in July, Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Shenzhen Airlines ordered a combined 292 A320 aircraft.

Gao would not comment on Airbus’s growing market share in China, but he indicated that there are still plenty of opportunities given the size of China’s aviation market.

Boeing’s latest commercial market outlook, released in October, predicted that China would need 8,458 new aeroplanes in the next 20 years, and that the industry will also require more than US$545 billion worth of commercial services to support the growing fleet. The plane forecast was slightly down from last year’s, when it said China would need 8,700 new aeroplanes by 2040.

Boeing’s China orders ‘to be affected’ with home-grown C919 set for green light

Meanwhile, Gao says that Boeing is also tapping into the rising demand for freighters that’s been driven by China’s booming e-commerce and express industry.

Old commercial jets are turned into air-cargo carriers via the 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) programme in Shanghai, which was established in 2016.

“Now we have opened more than 10 737-800 BCF conversion lines in China and have delivered more than 100 freighters,” Gao added.

Gao also congratulated Comac for receiving certification for the C919, calling it an “important milestone”.

“I will not be surprised to see Comac become a major player of the market,” he said. “Competition drives innovation, which benefits the entire industry.”

Boeing and Comac have joint projects at the completion-and-delivery facility in Zhoushan as well as at a research centre in sustainable manufacturing, including enhanced recycling of materials and aviation fuel development. And Comac’s Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company is one of Boeing’s key suppliers in China.

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