China’s BOC Aviation, Asia’s Biggest Plane Lender, Orders 40 More Boeing 737 Max Airliners
© AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
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American planemaker Boeing scored an important sale of its troubled 737 Max aircraft earlier this week when BOC Aviation, the largest commercial plane lender in Asia, penned a deal to buy 40 more of the jet airliners.
"We are pleased to continue to build on our existing relationship with Boeing, with this 40-aircraft incremental order for the fuel-efficient Boeing 737-8 aircraft. The incremental order takes our total 737 MAX 8 orderbook with Boeing to 80 aircraft," David Walton, BOC Aviation deputy managing director and chief operating officer, said in a Tuesday news release.
"We look forward to continuing to provide one of the industry's most technologically advanced aircraft for delivery on lease to our airline customers, and to support their sustainable growth over the balance of this decade."
The company will receive the new aircraft in 2027 and 2028.
BOC Aviation already had 50 737 Max aircraft on order as of September, and another 52 in its stocks, according to a company inventory. The lender is reportedly looking to replace its aging fleet of 72 older 737 Next Generation aircraft, which hit the market in 1997 and were phased out in favor of the 737 Max series in 2017.
The lender didn’t say which airlines would be leasing the new planes from it. BOC Aviation has a vast fleet of some 612 aircraft, most of which are Airbus A320s, a direct competitor with the 737 that passed it in 2019 to become the best-selling airliner of all time.
Another competitor with both jets also recently entered the market: Comac’s C919 airliner, China’s first large commercial passenger jet of indigenous design. When the narrow-body airliner put on a demonstration at the Zhuhai Air Show last month, it instantly netted another 300 orders on top of the 500 already placed by Chinese carriers.
Boeing’s sales of commercial airliners, especially its 737 Max series, has seriously suffered in the wake of a pair of crashes and the resulting scandal. The planemaker has been forced to pay out billions in fines and restitutions after it hid changes to the plane’s computer from its operators, creating a situation that caused both crashes, killing 346 people.
Boeing’s sales have fallen below investors’ estimates for more than a year, and its stock is down roughly 9.4% since the start of 2022, having recovered from a nearly 30% loss. The decline is in part due to the 737 MAX’s reputation, but also crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, which have affected all airlines. More recently, parts shortages and low orders for other Boeing products, like the 787, have caused problems in production.
However, which China's rapid move away from its "Dynamic Zero Covid" policy and toward reopening, demand for travel to and from the populous country is set to increase dramatically. At the same time, several nations are now also setting up testing requirements for travelers entering from China.
