Boeing Resumes Deliveries of 737 MAX Airplanes to China

Boeing announced on Tuesday that it has resumed deliveries of its best-selling 737 MAX airplanes to China after a prolonged delay due to regulatory issues.

As reported by Reuters on May 22, the delay was primarily caused by a Chinese regulatory review concerning the batteries powering the cockpit voice recorder.

Impact on Boeing and Regulatory Challenges:

The resumption of deliveries is a positive development for Boeing, which had previously informed investors about the delays in Chinese deliveries. The U.S. planemaker is also dealing with a separate safety and quality crisis.

Deliveries of new Boeing aircraft to China have been inconsistent since 2019, following two fatal crashes of MAX 8 jets. The situation was further complicated by escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing over various issues, including technology and national security.

Recent Deliveries and Future Prospects:

On July 9, Boeing delivered two 777 freighters to Air China, confirming earlier reports that widebody aircraft deliveries to China had resumed. However, Chinese carriers had not yet started taking deliveries of the single-aisle 737 MAX. Reuters reported in June that these deliveries were expected to resume as early as July.

China had suspended most orders and deliveries of Boeing planes in 2019 after the global grounding of the 737 MAX. While wide-body aircraft deliveries resumed in December and narrow-body MAX jets in January, Boeing still had approximately 140 737 MAX 8 aircraft in inventory at the end of 2023, including 85 for customers in China. Between the beginning of 2024 and April 30, Boeing delivered 22 aircraft to China.