Tag: Boeing

In a significant breakthrough for both US-China commercial aviation and Boeing’s strained global order book, President Donald Trump announced on 14 May 2026 that China had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing commercial aircraft. The deal, confirmed by Boeing on 16 May, represents the planemaker’s first major re-entry into the Chinese market in nearly a decade, having been effectively locked out following a combination of the 737 MAX crisis, diplomatic tensions, and successive tariff rounds. With Trump suggesting the order could ultimately rise to 750 aircraft, the agreement stands as one of the more consequential commercial outcomes of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Continue reading China Orders 200 Boeing Jets in Trump’s Trade Deal

Boeing’s beleaguered 777X programme took a tentative step forward on 4 February 2026, when the manufacturer confirmed that the first flight of a production-standard aircraft — one built to the exact specification intended for commercial service — had been targeted for April of this year. The announcement, welcomed cautiously by an industry that has grown accustomed to the programme’s repeated setbacks, marked the beginning of what Boeing hopes will be a decisive final push towards FAA type certification and, eventually, entry into commercial service in 2027.

Continue reading Boeing 777X First Flight Targeted for April

In the space of a few days in April 2025, one of the most visible consequences of the escalating trade war between the United States and China manifested itself at an aircraft completion centre in Zhoushan, Shanghai: Boeing 737 MAX jets finished and prepared for Chinese airline customers were ferried back across the Pacific, unwanted by the carriers for which they had been built. The Chinese government had directed its airlines not to accept further Boeing deliveries following the imposition of 125-percent retaliatory tariffs on American goods, making the economics of taking new aircraft wholly indefensible. For Boeing, already navigating a precarious financial recovery from years of programme setbacks and regulatory scrutiny, the sudden loss of one of its most strategically important customer bases represented a significant blow with consequences that extended well beyond the immediate delivery cycle.

Continue reading Boeing Repatriates 737 MAX Jets from China Over Tariffs