China has agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets, with a potential for the order to rise to as much as 750 planes, US President Donald Trump told reporters yesterday, adding that the planes would have GE Aerospace engines.
The deal “includes approximately 200 planes and a promise of up to 750 if they do a good job”, Trump told reporters. More details on the deal such as which type of jets and when the order would be delivered were not immediately available.
The orders, if finalised, would mark Boeing’s first major Chinese deal in nearly a decade, after the US planemaker was largely shut out of the world’s second-largest aviation market amid trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 200 planes announced by Trump represented new business for Boeing versus aircraft already in its order backlog.
People familiar with China’s purchasing patterns said Beijing has previously bundled new orders with repeat announcements when unveiling trade packages tied to diplomatic visits by US and European leaders.
There was no immediate announcement on the order from Boeing. Planemakers usually disclose large deals once they are formalised. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Its CEO Kelly Ortberg and GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp were among the group of American executives who accompanied Trump to China in hopes of clinching deals or resolving business disputes.
For China, such a big order would secure capacity to keep growing its aviation market as production of its home-grown COMAC C919 narrow-body falls short of ambitious targets.
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