Boeing (NYSE: BA) CEO Kelly Ortberg flew to Beijing with President Trump specifically to close a major aircraft order from China — the company’s first in nearly a decade. The aircraft maker was hoping for 500 jets. China committed to 200. The stock fell 4%.
Trump announced the commitment on Fox News Thursday, saying Xi Jinping agreed to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft during their bilateral talks.
“One thing he agreed to today: he’s going to order 200 jets. Boeing — 200 big ones. That’s a lot of jobs,” Trump said. “Boeing wanted 150, they got 200.”
Neither Boeing nor Chinese officials immediately confirmed details — which aircraft types, which airlines, or when deliveries would begin.
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Reuters reported ahead of the summit that talks were underway for roughly 500 Boeing 737 MAX jets, with possible follow-on orders for 100 wide-body 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft. Jefferies estimated the order could reach 500 aircraft.
Ortberg set expectations high on Boeing’s April earnings call — the summit was “a meaningful opportunity for us,” he said, and he was “highly confident” any Trump-Xi agreement would include aircraft orders. The final tally “would be a big number.”
On Thursday, 200 was not that number.
Boeing shares closed down 4.73%. BNP Paribas aerospace analyst Matt Akers told Reuters: “It’s possible we still get more orders this trip, but right now investors are interpreting this as being less than hoped for.”
Analysts also noted Beijing has a history of using diplomatic summits to announce aircraft orders that reflect political relationships as much as contractual realities — the actual operator is often unclear until close to delivery.
China’s last major Boeing order came in November 2017 — also during a Trump visit to Beijing — when it agreed to buy 300 jets valued at more than $37 billion. In the years since, Beijing shifted substantially toward Airbus (EPA: AIR), which opened an A320 assembly plant in Tianjin and now holds majority market share in China.
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The 200-jet commitment, if formalized, would still mark a significant commercial re-entry into the world’s second-largest aviation market. China needs to order as many as 1,000 new aircraft now and requires at least 9,000 new jetliners by 2045, according to projections from both Boeing and Airbus.
Safran estimates a deal of this size could add five MAX deliveries per month to Boeing’s production schedule — though Boeing’s existing backlog of 6,100 planes represents six to seven years of production, and meaningful deliveries to China are unlikely to begin for at least a year or two.
The announcement also included commitments on US soybeans, oil, and liquefied natural gas. Trump called the talks “very good.”
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