Massive Boeing Order

Days after Airbus’ reported order with China was said to be nearing completion, Boeing is seeing a similar trend.

Driven by a report, Boeing is edging closer to finalising a major aircraft deal for commercial jets with potentially up to 500 types ordered as part of fleet renewal plans.

The deal, which remains complex, will be a pivotal one and, more importantly, break a sales drought that has lasted close to eight years.

Ultimately, Boeing’s relationship with Chinese operators has been touch-and-go across those last eight years, aligning with the planemakers’ arguably hardest period in history.

From the 737 MAX crashes and the resulting fallout, which saw China act promptly to ground the type and also take the longest to unground it, to the plethora of certification troubles.

China’s confidence in the product being put out by Boeing dropped considerably with concerns over how the planemaker was going about production and certification of equipment.

Additionally, as political tensions with the West began to increase, the prospect of new aircraft orders faced significant obstacles.

However, now, there’s renewed confidence that a long-standing drought will be broken as Chinese airlines look to advance their fleet. Officials are speaking with these domestic airlines to understand the requirements for the new order.

Once these discussions are concluded, there’ll be a greater understanding of the makeup for this, which is not just a significant undertaking but also one that will be pretty complex to finalise.

Furthermore, while the 500 aircraft deal would be huge for China and therefore Boeing as well, adding to its backlog and helping capture market share, it still has yet to be finalised.

Given the turbulent trade relations between the United States and China, there also remains the possibility of such a deal falling through at any stage, and it is undoubtedly more likely before a formal agreement is reached.

While the aircraft types involved in the order will be a fundamental consideration, so will the delivery slots, which will be key for when the jets will arrive into the hands of the Chinese operators to fuel future growth hopes and the renewal, thus departure of older aircraft types.

Boeing Not Alone With New Order

In a space where there’s competition from Airbus and COMAC, Boeing is never alone in fighting for new commercial aircraft orders and would’ve arguably felt positioned at the back of the pack over these planemakers.

However, Boeing’s possible deal for up to 500 new aircraft is not the only sizeable new commercial aircraft order in the works, with a long rumoured deal also coming from China for Airbus.

The deal, which should’ve been announced many months ago, was not actioned on due to many geopolitical concerns, a common issue with trade deals such as these.

Despite this, work has still been conducted behind the scenes to make this a reality for airlines in China, with companies such as Air China, China Southern, Xiamen Air, China Eastern and Sichuan all set to benefit.

Some airlines will likely take on a larger chunk of the jets from Airbus, just like what would occur with a prospective deal for Boeing planes. This depends on the requirements of each business, which is why discussions will be necessary.

With more businesses and therefore countries looking to plan, there’s been greater emphasis on securing new contracts for aircraft sooner rather than later.

Additionally, with such a strong focus on growth after years of turmoil caused by the global pandemic, it has become more common for orders to include hundreds of aircraft rather than just 50.

Such hefty deals only benefit airlines’ backlogs and countries planning for the future of their aviation industry; significant deals in the hundreds have become increasingly more common.

These deals are welcomed for planemakers’ backlogs, which are only strengthened further and allow for production rate increases to cope, but managing supply chain constraints has put pressure across recent years on serving this backlog.