The Boeing Jet, intended for use by Chinese airlines, returned to the plan maker’s US production hub on Saturday.
According to Reuters witnesses, the 737 Max, intended for China’s Xiamen Airlines, has landed at Boeing Field in Seattle. Painted in Xiamen colouring.
The jet, which stopped refueling in Guam and Hawaii on a 5,000-mile return trip, was one of the largest 737 planes waiting for birth to a Chinese airline at Boeing’s Zhoushan completion centre.
Trump raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145% this month. In retaliation, China has imposed a 125% tariff on US goods. Tariffs could be crippled by customs duties, given the new 737 Max’s market value of around $55 million, according to the IBA, an aviation consultant.
It is not clear which party decided that the aircraft would return to the United States. Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Xiamen did not respond to requests for comment.
The return of Boeing’s bestselling model, the 737 Max, is the latest indication of a new aircraft delivery disruption from the aerospace industry’s decades-old tax-free status breakdown.
A tariff war and apparent U-turns on delivery will occur as Boeing recovers from the import freeze of the 737’s largest jet and previous trade tensions.
Confusion over changes in tariffs could leave many aircraft delivery on the frontier, with CEOs of some airlines saying they would postpone plane delivery rather than paying wages, analysts say.
