Boeing resumes deliveries of 737 MAX airplanes to China

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -Boeing said on Tuesday it has resumed deliveries of its best-selling 737 MAX airplane to China after a lengthy delay stemming from regulatory issues.

Reuters reported on May 22 that Boeing's plane deliveries to China had been delayed in recent weeks due to a Chinese regulatory review of batteries powering the cockpit voice recorder.

The resumption is a boost to the U.S. planemaker, which had flagged Chinese delivery delays to investors, and which is engulfed in a separate safety and quality crisis.

New Boeing deliveries to China have been off and on since 2019 after two fatal crashes of MAX 8 jets and amid intensifying tensions over issues ranging from technology to national security between Washington and Beijing.

Boeing said on July 9 it had delivered two 777 freighters, to Air China, confirming Reuters reports that widebody deliveries to China had resumed.

But Chinese carriers had not yet begun taking single-aisle MAX deliveries. Reuters had reported in June that 737 MAX deliveries were set to resume as early as July.

China suspended most orders and deliveries of Boeing planes in 2019 after the 737 MAX was grounded worldwide.

Deliveries of widebodies restarted in December and narrow-body MAX jets in January.

In a year-end 2023 filing, Boeing said it had about 140 737 MAX 8 aircraft in inventory, including 85 aircraft for customers in China. Boeing delivered 22 aircraft to China between the start of 2024 and April 30.

The planemaker estimated on Saturday that Chinese airlines will need 8,830 new total commercial planes by 2043.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)