According to a source who spoke to Reuters, Boeing (BA.N.) will begin delivering its 787 Dreamliner to China in a few days. This development might allow China to lift a ban on the profitable 737 MAX that has been in place for more than four years.
According to someone who knows the situation, Juneyao Airlines, a privately held Chinese airline, will receive a brand-new 787 Dreamliner in Shanghai from Seattle. The source stated that it may launch as early as Thursday.
On Wednesday, the trade newspaper The Air Current reported that Boeing had received a crucial clearance this month from China’s aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), indicating that the American planemaker is getting closer to starting 737 MAX deliveries.
Chinese sales and deliveries of Boeing aircraft have been mainly halted since 2019. The 737 MAX was grounded globally in 2019 due to two deadly incidents in 2018 and 2019.
The safety restrictions have been removed, and Boeing’s most profitable model, the MAX, is now being flown within China; nevertheless, fresh deliveries have been put on hold.
In separate comments to the Juneyao announcement and the Air Current stories, Boeing stated, “We continue to support our customers in China and will be ready to deliver for our customers when that time comes.”
According to Reuters, the deputy chairman of the CAAC welcomed Boeing to further its expansion in the Chinese market on December 8, when the planemaker was in Beijing. According to The Air Current, which cited anonymous sources, the regulator’s authorization was given the same day.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in China must still approve individual MAX deliveries, according to the Air Current article. The NDRC or the CAAC did not immediately answer Reuters’s requests for comment.
According to information from the flight monitoring website FlightRadar24, a 737 MAX registered to China Southern Airlines (600029. SS) journeyed Wednesday afternoon from Boeing Field in Seattle to Boeing’s adjacent plant in Moses Lake, Washington, then back.
According to investor notes from Jefferies and Deutsche Bank analysts, it appeared to be a customer acceptance flight, which is a test flight under the direction of an airline pilot that takes place before delivery.
Resuming deliveries would represent the reopening of one of the most significant aerospace markets in the world for Boeing, which the company predicts will account for 20% of global aircraft demand by 2042.
