By Lisa Barrington

(Reuters) – The primary Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX jet delivered to a Chinese language airline since March 2019 landed in China on Saturday, ending an nearly five-year import freeze on the planemaker’s most worthwhile jets and heralding the potential supply of a backlog of dozens of completed MAXs to China.

The 737 MAX 8 left Seattle Boeing area in Washington state on Wednesday after being handed over to China Southern Airways, stopping in Hawaii and the Northern Mariana Islands earlier than its remaining leg to Guangzhou in southern China, monitoring knowledge from FlightRadar24 exhibits.

China, which was the primary nation to floor MAX jets after two MAX 8 accidents in 2018 and 2019 that killed almost 350 folks, gave Boeing permission final month to renew deliveries of its 737 MAX 8 to native clients.

Whereas security bans on the MAX have been lifted, new MAX deliveries had remained on maintain since early 2019 as tensions between Washington and Beijing over points starting from know-how to nationwide safety intensified.

China’s green-light is a lift to the U.S. planemaker, which has been hit by the fallout from a mid-air blowout of a cabin panel on a 737 MAX 9 jet operated by Alaska Airways, together with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration barring Boeing from increasing manufacturing of its best-selling narrowbody planes. No Chinese language airways function MAX 9 plane.

Chinese language airways have at the very least 209 MAX planes on order from Boeing, in line with aviation knowledge supplier Cirium.

Boeing mentioned in October that 85 of 250 completed MAX planes it had in its stock had been being held for patrons in China. Extra MAX jets had been being held for Chinese language clients however as a result of import freeze Boeing final 12 months remarketed 55 of them to different clients.

The FAA’s unprecedented intervention in manufacturing schedules might additional delay some deliveries of latest planes to airways and harm suppliers already reeling from an earlier MAX disaster and the pandemic.

Offering Beijing continues to allow MAX imports, China appears to be like unlikely to be affected by Boeing’s manufacturing constraint as dozens of planes for Chinese language clients stand prepared for supply.

Chinese language airways are estimated to take supply of 64 MAX 8 jets in 2024, and 58 in 2025, Cirium knowledge exhibits.

“Our knowledge signifies that each single one in all these anticipated (2024) deliveries has already flown and is in Boeing’s present manufacturing stock,” mentioned Rob Morris, head of worldwide consultancy at Ascend by Cirium.

“There may be potential for a big variety of these plane to be delivered,” Morris mentioned.

The MAX handover comes after Boeing in December made its first direct supply of a 787 Dreamliner to a Chinese language buyer since 2019.

China is among the fastest-growing aerospace markets, which Boeing initiatives will account for 20% of the world’s plane demand by means of 2042.

Boeing declined to touch upon the supply. China Southern and the Civil Aviation Administration of China didn’t reply to requests to remark.