Chinese reject new jets due to tariffs, Boeing confirms

Boeing may redirect jets to other airlines

- LISA BARRINGTON

Boeing's Chinese customers are refusing delivery of new planes built for them due to tariffs, the US planemaker has confirmed, as a third Boeing jet started returning to the US yesterday.

"Due to the tariffs, many of our customers in China have indicated that they will not take delivery," CEO Kelly Ortberg said during a first quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

Ortberg said China was the only country where Boeing was facing this issue, and the planemaker would redirect new jet supply to other customers eager for earlier deliveries due to a global shortage of new commercial planes.

Before President Donald Trump's global trade offensive, commercial jets were traded duty-free worldwide under a 1979 civil aviation agreement.

A Chinese airline taking delivery of a Boeing jet could now be hit hard by the retaliatory tariffs imposed by Beijing on the import of US goods. A new 737 Max has a market value of around $55 million (about 1.84 billion baht), according to IBA, an aviation consultancy.