Boeing To Sell 300 Jets To China Firms

Boeing has signed deals to sell 300 aircraft to three Chinese firms and set up an aircraft plant in China.

The aircraft deals, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars in total, are collectively the largest order Boeing has received from Chinese companies.

China's ICBC Financial Leasing separately confirmed it will buy 30 Boeing 737-800s, worth USD$2.88 billion at list prices.

China Aviation Supplies and China Development Bank Leasing are the other two customers for the aircraft.

Boeing will build the aircraft completion plant in China, its first outside the United States, in order to gain a foothold in that important market, say industry observers.

Boeing raised its forecast for China's aircraft demand by 5 percent in August, saying that the country will need 6,330 planes over the next 20 years.

It signed a cooperation document with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) to build the aircraft completion facility for the 737, added Xinhua. No further details were disclosed.

An aircraft's interiors and some systems are usually installed, and the plane painted in the customer's livery, at completion facilities. The final flight trials are then completed before the aircraft is delivered to the customer.

Boeing's plans for aircraft completion comes after Airbus signed an agreement in July to set up its second Chinese plant.