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Chinese firms in deals to buy 300 jets from Boeing
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US aerospace giant Boeing yesterday reached deals with Chinese firms to sell 300 aircraft and set up a “completion center” in China for its narrow-body 737 airliners.
The massive order highlights the importance of the Chinese market despite a growth slowdown that threatens to slow the expansion of air travel.
The agreements with the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) represents a step-up in Boeing’s competition in China with European rival Airbus, which already has a manufacturing presence in the country, according to Xinhua news agency.
The Xinhua report, datelined from Seattle where President Xi Jinping began his first US state visit on Tuesday, gave no details of the models bought by a group of Chinese companies or the value of the sale.
Aviation analyst Shukor Yusof described it as the biggest ever order by a country.
“China’s rapidly growing aviation market plays a crucial role in our current and future success,” Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney said in a statement last week.
COMAC confirmed the setting up of a joint venture with Boeing for interior completion, painting and other delivery support services for Chinese customers.
“This shows cooperation between Boeing and a Chinese enterprise has been lifted to a major-manufacturer level,” it said in a statement.
China is expected to add 6,330 new aircraft worth US$950 billion to its commercial fleet by 2034, Boeing said last month in its annual China Current Market Outlook.
The completion center will be the firm’s first outside the US.
European rival Airbus already has a final assembly operation for medium-range Airbus 320 aircraft in the northern port city of Tianjin, and plans to open a completion and delivery center for long-haul A330s.
A report by the Shanghai Securities News on Tuesday said plans for a Boeing facility in the eastern province of Zhejiang had already been submitted to the central government for approval.
COMAC is already developing a Chinese narrow-body, the C919, as well as a smaller regional jet, the ARJ21, in Shanghai.
One of the buyers in the Boeing deal, China Development Bank Leasing, said in a statement it had signed a deal for 30 Boeing Next-Generation 737-800 aircraft valued at US$3 billion.
Other Chinese participants in the purchase include China Aviation Supplies Holding Co and ICBC Financial Leasing Co, which will also buy 30 Boeing Next-Generation 737s, state media said.
Boeing sold a record 155 airplanes last year to customers in China and so far this year a quarter of its jets have been delivered there. The company predicts that over the next two decades China will overtake the US as the world’s biggest plane market with demand for 6,330 new airplanes worth an estimated US$950 billion.
Also on Tuesday, China’s National Development and Reform Commission of China signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US plane maker on the promotion of comprehensive strategic cooperation in the civil aviation industry.
According to the MOU, in the next five years, the two sides will enhance industrial cooperation, expand scale of production, jointly develop “green aviation technologies,” and develop world-class air transport systems together. In addition, Boeing has agreed to authorize the Aviation Industry Corporation of China to increase its production of Boeing 747-8 plane parts.
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