By Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE, March 6 (Reuters) – Boeing is close to landing its first major aircraft order from China in nearly a decade, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company is negotiating an order for up to 500 737 MAX jets to be unveiled when U.S. President Donald Trump travels to Beijing for his first state visit to China since 2017.
The two sides are also in talks for a widebody sale that includes about 100 Boeing 787 and 777X jets, the report said.
Shares of the company were up 3.7% in afternoon trading.
Reuters was not able to confirm the report. Other sources told Reuters the deal is still in negotiations, with several sticking points unresolved.
Boeing declined to comment.
One of the world’s largest commercial aviation markets, China used to take delivery of hundreds of Airbus and Boeing jets each year in the 2010s. Deliveries have dropped sharply in recent years, and India is now seen as the fastest-growing international market for the rival planemakers.
The drop in orders from China has created significant pent-up demand for new jetliners for its airlines. Aviation analysts and industry sources say it needs at least 1,000 imported planes to maintain growth and replace older aircraft.
The timing of any major orders with Boeing or Airbus heavily depends on political calculations. A report of a mega-deal last year between Beijing and Airbus failed to materialize.
China is also in talks for another 500-jet order with Airbus that would be in addition to the Boeing deal. That deal has been in on-off negotiations since at least 2024.
Boeing and officials from China and the U.S. have been in talks for months over a large jetliner deal.
China once made up about 25% of Boeing’s order book, but now Boeing has only 133 orders from Chinese airlines – about 2% of its order book. However, 13.6% of Boeing’s backlog are for orders from unidentified customers, which could include Chinese carriers.
Trump plans to visit China from March 31 to April 2, with Xi expected to visit Washington later in the year. Previously, Trump threatened to impose export controls on Boeing plane parts in Washington’s response to Chinese export limits on rare earth minerals.
During clashes with Trump over trade, Beijing in April ordered Chinese airlines to temporarily stop taking deliveries of new Boeing jets. They resumed later that spring.
The planemaker has also landed several large sales from foreign carriers following visits by Trump.
(Reporting by Parth Chandna in Bengaluru and Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Alan Barona and David Gregorio)
Comments