All Boeing 737 MAX jets operated by Chinese carriers are back in service at the end of 2023, the U.S. planemaker’s China head said on Friday.
The best-selling Boeing model was grounded after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. The MAX returned to service around the world starting in late 2020 after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training, but Chinese airlines started to fly them again only in January 2023.
“All China civil aviation 737 MAXs have resumed operations,” Boeing China CEO Liu Qing said on Chinese social media, adding that this amounted to nearly 100 planes.
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Liu also said Boeing has delivered new aircraft to Chinese customers this year, although he did not specify which models.
The company last week made its first direct delivery of a 787 Dreamliner to China since 2019, a step seen as a possible prelude to the end of Beijing’s freeze on 737 MAX deliveries.
Boeing has been virtually frozen out of new orders from China since 2017 amid Sino-U.S. trade tensions.
The resumption of MAX deliveries would be a restoration of Boeing’s relationship with China and a financial boost that would allow it to dispose of dozens of aircraft in its inventory.
With information from Reuters
Plataforma Informativa de Aviación Comercial líder en América Latina.