China has officially put pen to paper on a commitment to buy 200 Boeing commercial aircraft for the country’s airlines. The news comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Asian nation, where, among other things, he met with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, in the capital of Beijing.

A high-profile Boeing order was always in the running for this visit, with Simple Flying having reported earlier this month that Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg was among the delegation that traveled with Trump to China. While the 200-aircraft order already represents a sizeable deal, it is thought that further purchases may follow.

Signed & Sealed

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As reported by the BBC, Boeing has officially secured an order for 200 of its commercial aircraft from China following Mr Trump’s economic bridge-building visit. News of this agreement was hinted at last week by the President himself, who even said that the figure of 200 jets exceeded Boeing’s planned target of 150. This represents a major step forward for Boeing in a market that is big but, of late, has been a tough nut to crack.

Going forward, the US planemaker may yet see further orders, with Trump going on to say that further positive progression in negotiations could see the overall total rise to as many as 750 jets. In any case, for the 200 planes that have been confirmed, the BBC notes that, according to China’s Commerce Ministry, Boeing has committed to providing China and its airlines with guarantees for things like engine parts. The planemaker said:

“We had a very successful trip to China and accomplished our major goal of reopening the Chinese market to orders for Boeing aircraft. This included an initial commitment for 200 aircraft, and we expect further commitments will follow.”

A Happy Ending After Years Of Turbulence

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For Boeing, the confirmation of this major Chinese order represents the light at the end of a tunnel in a commercial aviation market that is lucrative, but one where it has not seen a great deal of success in recent years. According to The Independent, the all-American nature of the deal extends beyond the aircraft themselves, with GE Aerospace having been chosen to supply the engines. The General Electric firm is based in Evendale, Ohio.

Further reporting by The Independent highlights the fact that it has been almost a decade since Boeing has been able to secure such a significant order for its commercial aircraft in the Chinese market. In recent years, various aviation-related and non-aviation factors have made China a tough nut to crack for Boeing, such as the multi-year grounding of the 737 MAX family and trade tensions between the US and China amid Trump’s tariff war.

Things came to a head in a particularly dramatic manner in April of last year, when China banned deliveries of Boeing aircraft. This prompted Boeing to fly 737 MAX aircraft from the Zhoushan Completion and Delivery Center in China back to the US, with the American planemaker reportedly starting talks with other carriers to sell the aircraft that had been abandoned by Chinese carriers. Deliveries of Boeing jets eventually resumed in June 2025.

Chinese Boeing Operations Today

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Boeing already has a considerable footprint in the Chinese market, with present scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showing that a grand total of 169,007 Boeing-operated flights are set to depart from airports in China in May of 2025 alone. China Southern accounts for the largest proportion of this total, with 21,761 Boeing-operated flights, followed by Hainan Airlines (18,012) and China Eastern (16,589).

The vast majority of China’s Boeing-operated flights use narrowbody twinjets, with widebodies only accounting for 8,474 departures: 5,669 with the 787 family, 2,580 with the 777 family, 180 with the 767 family, and 45 with the 747 family. Meanwhile, the remaining 160,533 flights are not only all operated by Boeing narrowbodies, but all of them use the 737 family. It will be interesting to see how these figures develop following the new order.