Boeing Resumes Business in China after Five year Freeze

The first Boeing 737 MAX jet delivered to a Chinese airline since March 2019 landed in China on Jan 27, signalling the end of a nearly five-year import ban on the planemaker's most profitable jets and the possibility of delivering dozens of completed MAXs to China.

The 737 MAX 8 left Seattle Boeing Field in Washington state on Wednesday after being handed over to China Southern Airlines, making stops in Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands before continuing to Guangzhou in southern China, according to FlightRadar24 tracking data.

China, which was the first country to ground MAX jets after two MAX 8 accidents in 2018 and 2019 that killed nearly 350 people, gave Boeing permission last month to resume deliveries of its 737 MAX 8 to local customers.

While safety restrictions on the MAX have been lifted, new MAX deliveries have been halted since early 2019, as tensions between Washington and Beijing over issues ranging from technology to national security grew.

China's approval is a boost for the American planemaker, which has been hit by the fallout from a mid-air blowout of a cabin panel on a 737 MAX 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines, including the US Federal Aviation Administration's decision to prohibit Boeing from expanding production of its best-selling narrowbody aircraft. No Chinese airlines fly MAX 9 planes.

According to aviation data provider Cirium, Chinese airlines have placed orders for at least 209 MAX aircraft from Boeing.