Boeing in massive sales, plant deal with China
AMERICAN aerospace giant Boeing has reached deals with Chinese firms to sell 300 aircraft and set up a completion centre in the Asian country, state media and its local partner said yesterday, as President Xi Jinping began his first state visit to the United States.
The massive order, which was not immediately confirmed by Boeing, demonstrates the vital importance of the Chinese market despite a growth slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) also reached an agreement with Boeing to set up a completion centre in China for its narrow-body 737 airliners, Xinhua said.
It represents a step up in the US company’s competition in China with European rival Airbus, which already has a manufacturing presence in the country.
The Xinhua report, datelined from Seattle where Xi started his trip on Tuesday, gave no details of the models of the planes bought by a group of Chinese companies or the value of the sale.
Xi was due to visit Boeing’s main aeroplane factory in Washington state yesterday, as he looks to highlight the economic importance of China to US firms with the countries’ political relationship tense.
“China’s rapidly growing aviation market plays a crucial role in our current and future success,” Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said in a statement issued last week to announce the visit.
Comac confirmed it would set up a joint venture with Boeing for interior completion, painting and other delivery support services for Chinese customers. China was expected to add 6 330 new aircraft worth $950-billion (R13.1-trillion) to its commercial fleet by 2034, Boeing said last month in its annual China Current Market Outlook.
A completion centre in China for the medium-range Boeing 737 will be the firm’s first outside the US.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Ray Conner told employees on Tuesday it would not result in layoffs at its Washington plant.
A Comac spokesman declined to say where it would be located or when it would open.