China has removed a ban on airlines taking delivery of Boeing planes after the United States and China agreed on a temporary cut in steep tariffs, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Officials in Beijing have started to tell domestic carriers and government agencies this week that deliveries of aircraft made in the US can resume, Bloomberg said. Last month at least three jets at Boeing's delivery centre in China were repatriated by Boeing to the United States.
Bloomberg News a month ago reported that Boeing faced a Chinese ban on imports as part of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Beijing has not commented on why Boeing deliveries stopped and senior industry sources told Reuters they were not aware of formal instructions against taking Boeing planes.
Boeing last month said customers in China would not take delivery of new planes due to tariffs, and it was looking to resell potentially dozens of aircraft.
On Monday, Washington and Beijing agreed to slash reciprocal tariffs of over 100% during a 90-day negotiation period following weekend talks in Geneva. Boeing declined to comment on the Bloomberg report. China's Civil Aviation Administration did not respond to a request for comment. Airlines in China contacted by Reuters did not respond to requests for comment.
Beijing two weeks ago said Chinese airlines and Boeing had been severely affected by US-imposed tariffs. China represents about 10% of Boeing's commercial backlog and is an important and growing aviation market.
Boeing executives said during the company's first-quarter earnings call that the company had planned for 50 jets to go to Chinese carriers this year, with 41 in production or pre-built.
While Boeing had said other airlines are interested in taking rejected Chinese planes, the planemaker has hesitated to send the jets elsewhere despite being keen to bring down high inventory levels. Seating, for one, was an obstacle since seats were chosen and purchased by the Chinese airlines.
Chinese customers are expected to take 25 out of the 30 remaining 737 MAX jets built before 2023 that have not yet been delivered, Boeing said.
At least four 777 freighter planes are also in production for Chinese carriers, according to a source familiar with the matter and the aircraft tracking database Aviation Flights Group.
China had already granted exemptions from the high tariffs to some aerospace equipment parts, including engines and landing gear, before Monday's agreement.
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