China could discuss purchase of Boeing 737, after meeting Biden

Robert Besser
17 Nov 2023, 18:04 GMT+10

Over the weekend, Bloomberg News reported that when the U.S. and Chinese presidents meet this week at the APEC summit, China could resume purchases of Boeing's 737 Max aircraft
The report added that as aircraft commitments that are not a firm sale and are often in the form of a MOU or letter of intent, Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to announce a formal order for the 737 Max planes
The terms of any potential agreement could be discussed and could change or fall through before he meets U.S. President Joe Biden this week

ARLINGTON, Virginia: Over the weekend, Bloomberg News reported that when the U.S. and Chinese presidents meet this week at the APEC summit, China could resume purchases of Boeing's 737 Max aircraft.

The report added that as aircraft commitments that are not a firm sale and are often in the form of a memorandum of understanding or letter of intent, Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to announce a formal order for the 737 Max planes, but the terms of any potential agreement could be discussed and could change or fall through before he meets U.S. President Joe Biden this week.

Four years after two deadly crashes, Boeing is still waiting to resume deliveries of its 737 MAX to Chinese airlines, but the company said that as of the end of June, some 90 percent of its 737 Max jets in China had resumed commercial operations.

Since 2017, amid rising political and trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, Boeing has been almost completely shut out from new orders from Chinese carriers.

But citing economic growth and increasing demand for domestic travel, the company, in September, slightly increased its annual 20-year forecast for new plane deliveries to China.

The U.S. plane-maker said that China's fleet would more than double to nearly 9,600 jets over the next 20 years, and its domestic aviation market would be the largest in the world by the end of the forecast period, with demand for 6,470 single-aisle planes, such as the Boeing 737 MAX family.