ZHUHAI – Boeing’s 737 MAX test flight for China’s aviation regulator last month has proved successful, and the aircraft maker hopes that a two-year grounding of the model will be lifted this year, said the head of the company’s China business today.
“It went off without a hitch,” said Boeing China president Sherry Carbary of the test flight, speaking on the sidelines of Airshow China, the nation’s biggest air show.
Boeing is working with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) as it sifts through data and finalises reports before deciding whether the plane can be returned to service, she said.
The ban, which has been lifted in the West and several Asian countries, may be eased in China around November, people close to the matter told Reuters.
“We are hopeful it will happen by the end of the year,” said Carbary, declining to be more specific.
“It is up to CAAC. But, I can tell you we are doing all we can to support them, and we’re encouraged by how closely they are working with us.”
Before the 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 following two fatal crashes, the company was selling a quarter of the planes it built annually to Chinese buyers.
Its Chinese sales have also been hobbled by United States-China trade tensions.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo yesterday said the Chinese government is preventing its domestic airlines from buying “tens of billions of dollars” of Boeing planes.
Carbary declined to comment directly on the remark, but said free and fair trade is important to enable the firm to deliver its aircraft around the world.
“I think that right now, our two governments are having some competitive issues on some sensitive issues that are legitimate, and the two countries need to work through those.” – Reuters, September 29, 2021
