China’s Plane Shortage Is Good News for Boeing

In recent years, China has steadily edged closer to unseating the US as the world’s biggest commercial aviation market, making the country a must-win for Boeing Co. By 2019, with carriers such as China Eastern, China Southern and Air China carrying ever more passengers across the country and around the globe, China accounted for almost a third of purchases of Boeing 737 jets. Even after Airbus SE opened an assembly line in Tianjin in 2008, its American rival ruled Chinese skies. If China wanted to keep its citizens airborne, it appeared, the country needed aircraft from Boeing.

Then two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max—the most advanced version of the plane—spurred regulators around the world to ground the model. Growing trade tensions with the US further dampened China’s interest in buying from the biggest US exporter. And China’s harsh coronavirus lockdowns killed off whatever demand remained. As orders from the company’s biggest overseas market virtually evaporated, it suddenly began to look as if Boeing needed China more than China needed Boeing.