China has agreed to buy 200 planes from Boeing, nearly a decade after the last order.
“One thing agreed upon today is that they will order 200 planes. It’s an important thing. Boeing,” U.S. President Donald Trump previewed on May 14 on Fox News, during his visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
So Beijing has agreed to purchase 200 Boeing planes, in a multi-billion dollar deal marking the country’s first purchase of U.S.-made commercial jets in nearly a decade, reports Bloomberg. The agreement comes after years of trade tensions, delivery blocks, and restrictions imposed by Beijing on the U.S. manufacturer. Resuming sales in China would help the company strengthen its finances amid a corporate restructuring led by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, a member of Trump’s delegation. It will also ensure Chinese airlines access to U.S.-made aircraft, given that global demand for new airliners exceeds manufacturers’ production capacity, adds Bloomberg.
However, Trump’s announcement fell short of the maximum goal of a historic deal that envisioned the purchase of 500 Boeing 737 Max jets. As a result, Boeing shares dropped as much as 5.4% to $227.50 on Thursday, despite a roughly 7% increase since the start of the year.
On Friday, the American aerospace group confirmed the initial agreement for 200 aircraft, with the prospect of further orders up to 750 planes. The U.S. aerospace giant is thus preparing to relaunch its presence in the Chinese market. The order would also help Boeing close the gap with rival Airbus, which has pulled ahead in China in recent years, notes Reuters.
All the details.
CHINESE ORDER FOR BOEING
“We had a very successful trip to China and achieved our main goal of reopening the Chinese market to Boeing aircraft orders,” the company said in a statement, highlighting CEO Kelly Ortberg’s participation in the U.S. delegation.
“This includes an initial commitment for 200 planes, and we expect further commitments to follow after this first tranche,” Boeing said, without specifying the models involved in the deal.
The group also thanked the Trump administration “for making this milestone possible,” adding: “We now look forward to continuing to meet China’s demand for aircraft.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PREVIEWS
On Thursday, Donald Trump previewed the agreement in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, stating that China intended to order “200 large planes.”
“I think it was a commitment,” the president said. “That’s a lot of jobs.” Later, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the return from China, Trump explained that the deal included “the promise of 750 planes, which will be by far the biggest order ever, if they do a good job with the 200 already acquired.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CHINESE MARKET FOR THE AMERICAN AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURER
In its latest 20-year global commercial aviation plan, published in June last year, Boeing estimated that by 2044, 44,000 new aircraft will be built worldwide, intended both to replace current planes and to meet growing air transport demand. According to forecasts, about half of the global demand will come from China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, areas considered strategic for the sector’s future.
For Boeing, which primarily competes with the European Airbus, returning to the Chinese market is therefore a key step to consolidate its position in the global commercial aviation market.
Moreover, Bloomberg emphasizes that the deal represents “the conclusion of years of negotiations with Chinese airlines and ends the long period of order drought in the world’s second-largest aerospace market.” Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about one-third of narrow-body aircraft delivered by Boeing were destined for China. However, the company’s business in the Land of the Dragon collapsed due to deteriorating U.S.-China relations.
THE LAST LARGE CHINESE ORDER DATED BACK TO 2017
The last major Chinese order to Boeing dates back to 2017, during Trump’s visit to Beijing early in his first White House term. On that occasion, China ordered 300 single-aisle and wide-body aircraft in a deal worth $37 billion.
The absolute record for the number of aircraft ordered remains with the Indian airline IndiGo, which purchased 500 Airbus A320s.
THE 737 MAX CASE AND RELATIONS WITH BEIJING
Bloomberg also recalls that Boeing lost market leadership in China to Airbus due to rising trade tensions and the prolonged grounding of the 737 Max.
The resumption of commercial relations between Boeing and Beijing comes after years marked by difficulties with the 737 Max program.
As Afp notes, China was the last country in the world to reauthorize Boeing 737 Max flights after two fatal crashes involving Lion Air in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in 2019, tragedies that caused a total of 346 deaths. The model, the best-selling in the Boeing family, was grounded globally for 20 months. It returned to service in the U.S. in November 2020, in Europe in January 2021, while China only reauthorized its flights in 2023.
In 2019, Beijing suspended all Boeing aircraft deliveries. Only in December 2023 did Chinese authorities reauthorize deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner and, a month later, those of the 737 Max. In mid-2024, deliveries were again halted for several weeks due to lithium battery issues found on several models.
At the end of last year, Washington and Beijing reached a trade truce that allowed Boeing to resume regular operations with Chinese customers.
