Boeing is once again delivering 737 MAX jets to Chinese customers following a halt in April of this year, the latest complication for the OEM’s most popular aircraft series. According to published records, a 737 MAX 8 was delivered to Xiamen Airlines on July 20.
The problems surrounding the 737 MAX program since 2019 have resulted in a significant backlog of completed aircraft awaiting delivery to customers; this has been a considerable drag on Boeing’s revenues in the past five years. In particular, deliveries to Chinese airlines have been slowed by regulators in that country delaying approval for the redesigned flight-control program put in place after the 737 MAX grounding in 2019-20.
After Boeing identified and resolved the problem that caused two 737 MAX crashes and led to the grounding, regulators everywhere except China had approved the aircraft to resume service by mid-2021. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) delayed its approval until 2022, and still new deliveries of all Boeing aircraft to China were blocked until 2023. Chinese officials had apparently used the suspended deliveries as a bargaining point in U.S. trade relations.
At the end of 2023, Boeing listed 119 outstanding orders for 737 MAX aircraft for customers in China, and 12 unfilled orders for 787 Dreamliner customers in that country.
While the regulatory issues had been overcome earlier this year, in April CAAC again suspended deliveries of all Boeing aircraft and called for a regulatory review of the 25-hour lithium batteries powering cockpit voice recorders, which the aircraft builder had adopted in 2022.
That review is apparently resolved now.
