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Frank Chen

Ralph Jennings

China’s first major order for Boeing aircraft in nearly a decade, along with an agreement to buy aircraft engines, could relieve pent-up demand for fleet upgrades and help the maker of the domestically built C919 secure stable supplies, analysts said.
US President Donald Trump said during his state visit to Beijing this week that China had agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets, adding that there is “a promise of buying 750 planes” on Friday aboard Air Force One after wrapping up his trip, without disclosing further details.
Trump also revealed an agreement for the purchase of up to 450 General Electric aircraft engines.
A Boeing deal would mark the first order in nearly a decade, serving as a high-profile “deliverable” from Trump’s visit, though the initial purchase of 200 is smaller than the 300-plane contract he secured in China in 2017.
Richard Aboulafia, managing director at the US-based aerospace consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, said the smaller order was “not a snub, but no great victory either”.
“[It] keeps the door open and perhaps helps keep Airbus pricing more aggressive,” he added.

The long-overdue deal had been eagerly anticipated before Trump and his CEO entourage, which included Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, touched down in Beijing on Wednesday. Bloomberg and other news outlets had reported China could splurge tens of billions of US dollars on 500 jets.
Details ranging from specific models, delivery arrangements and how Chinese operators would allocate the 200 planes are still lacking.
The figure announced by Trump also contrasts with the flurry of multibillion-US-dollar deals that Chinese carriers have awarded to Airbus since 2025, with analysts believing the latter’s China market share was likely to remain unchallenged.
“We are comparing the 200 Boeing jets and the around 380 jets for Airbus,” said Brian Yang Bo, a former airline executive in China.
“Unless Beijing greenlights more transactions for Boeing in the coming months – and I hope so because there is pent-up demand – I don’t think Boeing can reclaim the share lost to its European rival since 2017.”
Dennis Lau, consultancy services director at Hong Kong-based aviation services firm Asian Sky Group, agreed the orders would meet demand for fleet replacement, although he downplayed the deal’s significance.
Airbus and Boeing could both find demand in the market as China had an “older fleet” ready for a replacement cycle, he said. “There’s always capacity and always demand.”
Meanwhile, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the country’s leading planemaker, was likely to welcome the deals for Boeing and GE, Yang said, as they may boost its marquee C919 narrowbody series.
“China buying again from Boeing is a reassuring indication that aviation ties between China and the US have stabilised, which could in turn help Comac secure engines from GE Aerospace for the C919,” Yang added.
“If China ‘breaks the ice’ with Boeing, which is important for Trump, the expectation is that the US government will not use the sale of engines and other advanced components to Comac as leverage or even suspend supplies … The engine purchase, if it materialises, could be seen as a guarantee too,” he said.
The C919, billed as a Chinese equivalent to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, relies on American-French supplier CFM International as its sole engine supplier. GE is a major shareholder in CFM. Washington had paused engine shipments to China between May and July 2025 amid heightened trade tensions triggered by Trump’s tariff war.
When asked on Friday to comment on the Boeing deal, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun did not address it directly. China-US economic and trade ties were mutually beneficial, he said, adding that both sides should work to implement the consensus reached by the two leaders in Beijing.


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Details ranging from specific models, delivery arrangements and how Chinese operators would allocate the 200 planes are still lacking


Details ranging from specific models, delivery arrangements and how Chinese operators would allocate the 200 planes are still lacking.


Trump’s Boeing deal may help stabilise China-US aviation ties, secure supply chain for C919

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Details ranging from specific models, delivery arrangements and how Chinese operators would allocate the 200 planes are still lacking

Details ranging from specific models, delivery arrangements and how Chinese operators would allocate the 200 planes are still lacking