Aerospace giant Boeing confirmed that China had committed to purchasing 200 aircraft during a visit to Beijing by US President Donald Trump, in a deal that could ultimately balloon with orders for 750 additional planes.
"We had a very successful trip to China and accomplished our major goal of reopening the China market to orders for Boeing aircraft," the company, whose CEO Kelly Ortberg was part of the US delegation to China, said in a statement.
"This included an initial commitment for 200 aircraft and we expect further commitments will follow after this initial tranche," Boeing said, without specifying which models were on the negotiating table.
The group thanked the Trump administration "for making this milestone happen," adding: "We now look forward to continually addressing China's aircraft demand."
In its latest 20-year outlook for global commercial aviation, published in June last year, Boeing estimated that 44,000 planes would be built worldwide by 2044, both to replace the existing roughly 21,000 aircraft in use and to respond to a growth in demand.
About half of that demand is expected to come from China, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
