New York (AFP) – Aerospace giant Boeing on Friday confirmed that China had committed to purchasing 200 aircraft during a visit to Beijing by US President Donald Trump — a deal that could ultimately balloon with orders for 750 additional planes.
“We had a very successful trip to China and accomplished our major goal of reopening the China market to orders for Boeing aircraft,” the company, whose CEO Kelly Ortberg was part of the US delegation to China, said in a statement. “This included an initial commitment for 200 aircraft and we expect further commitments will follow after this initial tranche,” Boeing said, without specifying which models were on the negotiating table. When asked by AFP to specify which planes were part of the deal, Boeing declined to comment.
The group thanked the Trump administration “for making this milestone happen,” adding: “We now look forward to continually addressing China’s aircraft demand.” In its latest 20-year outlook for global commercial aviation, published in June last year, Boeing estimated that 44,000 planes would be built worldwide by 2044, both to replace the existing roughly 21,000 aircraft in use and to respond to a growth in demand. About half of that demand is expected to come from China, South Asia and Southeast Asia — music to the ears of Boeing executives, who really only have one major competitor, Europe’s Airbus.
China’s last order from Boeing dates back to 2017, when Trump went to Beijing at the start of his first White House term. At that time, it ordered 300 single-aisle and wide-body planes — a mega-deal valued at $37 billion. On Thursday, Trump had said China planned to order “200 big ones,” in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I think it was a commitment,” the president said. “That’s a lot of jobs.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew home from China, Trump said the deal included “a promise of 750 planes, which will be by far the largest order ever, if they do a good job with the 200.” US media have reported for several months that Beijing was poised to make a major order from Boeing that would include 500 single-aisle 737 MAXs and about 100 larger 787 Dreamliners and 777s. The overall record in terms of the number of planes for an aircraft order came from IndiGo, which purchased 500 Airbus A320s.
China was the last country in the world to reauthorize flights by Boeing 737 MAXs, after two fatal accidents on Lion Air in 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019 that left a total of 346 people dead. The 737 MAX family, Boeing’s top seller, was grounded worldwide for 20 months after the accidents. It returned to the skies in the United States in November 2020 and in Europe in January 2021 — but only in 2023 in China.
In 2019, Beijing had suspended all deliveries of Boeing aircraft. Four years later, in December 2023, it gave the green light to a delivery of 787 Dreamliners, and for 737 MAXs one month later. Chinese regulators again halted deliveries for a few weeks in mid-2024 over a lithium battery issue in several models. Boeing, the biggest US exporter by dollar value, was caught up in the tariff war launched when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Beijing retaliated by forbidding Chinese companies from ordering Boeing jets — or receiving those already ordered.
The world’s top two economies reached a trade war truce late last year, allowing Boeing to resume normal activity with Chinese customers. As of late last month, Boeing had 6,814 planes on order, including 4,371 737 MAXs, for a total value of an estimated $600 billion.
© 2024 AFP
