Boeing In Talks To Sell Up To 50 737 MAX Aircraft Abandoned By Chinese Carriers (2025)

Boeing has confirmed that it has been talking with its Chinese customer airlines about their intentions regarding their aircraft deliveries, with the company saying that it is actively looking at options to remarket already built or in-assembly aircraft.

Boeing

Stock Code

BA

Business Type

Planemaker

Date Founded

July 15, 1916

CEO

Kelly Ortberg

The plane maker has around 50 deliveries to Chinese airlines in its plans for 2025, which includes 737 MAX 8 and 787-9 aircraft. For nine aircraft that are yet to enter the assembly process, Boeing is talking to airlines to understand their intentions, and if need be, it can assign these to other airlines.

Unfortunate Situation

During Boeing’s Q1 earnings call on April 23, Kelly Ortberg, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the plane maker, shared that while much of the company’s supply chain is based in the United States, some of its key suppliers in Japan and Italy, are also subject to tariffs. Furthermore, Ortberg noted that another problem is retaliatory tariffs, which could affect Boeing’s ability to deliver aircraft to airlines.

Case in point: China, with the CEO noting that this is the only country that the company has been having issues with since Donald Trump, the President of the US, imposed steep tariffs against Chinese imports into the US, prompting the Asian country to retaliate. Ortberg admitted that due to the tariffs, “many of our customers in China have indicated they will not take delivery,” confirming previous reports.

Ortberg said that Boeing has taken a very straightforward approach to dealing with these deliveries, with the company having accounted for around 50 deliveries to China-based carriers in its plans for the year. The company has been in close communication with those customers and is assessing its options to remarket already built or in-process aircraft.

“And for the nine airplanes not yet in the production system, we're engaged with our customers to understand their intentions for taking delivery, and if necessary, we have the ability to assign those positions to other customers. It's an unfortunate situation, but we have many customers who want near-term deliveries, so we plan to redirect the supply to the stable demand.”

Working With The Trump Administration

According to Ortberg, Boeing will not continue building aircraft for customers who are unwilling to take delivery. Until it gets more clarity, the company will do its best to keep the situation in China from impacting its production flow. The CEO stated that in 2025, the company has a conservative recovery plan that accounts for “some perturbations or risks.”

As such, Ortberg “feels really good about” Boeing’s plans for 2025, even if the situation with China, tariffs, and paused deliveries to the country’s airlines “will take away some of the headroom we've built with our strong first quarter deliveries at” Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA). The aircraft manufacturer delivered 130 aircraft in Q1.

Ortberg noted that Boeing continues to tackle this situation proactively with the Trump administration, saying that the administration’s officials “understand the importance of the aerospace industry to the US economy and the role that Boeing plays as a top US exporter.”

Ch-aviation estimated that in addition to the 20 aircraft that Boeing had delivered to Chinese airlines before the tariff-induced showdown between the US and China, at least eight other aircraft were scheduled for delivery to airlines based in the latter country. This includes at least four 737 MAX 8 and four 787-9s, with the 787-9s already having operated their first flights between 2020 and 2021.

Still Shutting Down The Shadow Factory

Meanwhile, Brian West, the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Boeing, shared more details on the health and status of the 737 MAX production and inventory in Q1. The executive stated that following 105 737 MAX deliveries in Q1, including 33 in March, the factory was producing aircraft in the low 30s during the month. Boeing should be in a position to go to 38 per month, which is a cap that is still imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug blowout in January 2024.

“Today, we have about 30 737-8s built prior to 2023, which is down 25 from year-end and includes 25 airplanes for customers in China,” West added, saying that the company expects to rework these aircraft and shut its shadow factory by mid-2025. Around 10% of its commercial aircraft backlog, which was 6,319 gross and 5,648 net aircraft as of March 31, is assigned to Chinese airlines and aircraft lessors.