Boeing Said to Be in Talks to Sell Up to 500 Planes to China

Boeing is heading closer towards finalizing a deal with China to sell as many as 500 aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter, a transaction that would end a sales drought that stretches back to US President Donald Trump's last visit in 2017.

- Bloomberg

The two sides are still hammering out terms of the complex sale, including the types and volume of jet models and delivery timetables, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters.

The mega sale to China, years in the making, is contingent on the two nations defusing the trade hostilities that hark back to Mr. Trump's first term in office—and could still fall apart, they said.

Chinese officials have already started consulting domestic airlines about how many Boeing aircraft they will need, the people said.

The transaction taking shape is similar in scope to the order for as many as 500 jets that China's central planners have struck with Airbus, but have not yet announced, they added.

The Boeing order is expected to be the centrepiece of a trade agreement that would benefit both Mr. Trump and China's President Xi Jinping, the culmination of long-running and sometimes contentious negotiations.

The nation's leaders were close to a similar announcement in 2023, but then President Joe Biden and Mr. Xi left a San Francisco summit without consummating an aircraft sale.