Boeing’s 737 MAX planes, initially planned for China, are offered to Air India

Boeing’s 737 MAX airplanes, which were initially planned for customers from China, have been recently offered to Indian company Air India Ltd. The offer was made by the company in an attempt to sell part of those nearly 140 aircraft, which Boeing is still prohibited to deliver.

According to information received from people familiar with the situation, the Air India company, which is now in the process of fleet renewal under the guidance of its new owner Tata Group, is among Boeing’s prospect customers. The Indian carrier is intending to order up to 300 narrowbody aircraft. Boeing, in its turn, is discussing possibilities with lessors and some other airlines.

A ban on the delivery of Boeing 737 MAX to China has been in force for more than three years already, since the country became the first one to prohibit the model in spring 2019. China also postponed the approval of the model’s return for a significant period of time after the U.S. regulatory authorities removed the ban at the end of 2020.

As it was stated by Boeing’s chief executive Dave Calhoun, the company doesn’t have a possibility to wait forever, and some of the airplanes in question would be returned to the market.

It has been estimated by a person teaching the discussions that about 50 planes are probably to be resold. Possible conditions of such a deal would include the delivery on an “as-is” basis, suggesting that the new owners of the aircraft would have to repaint the planes and reinstall their own equipment by themselves.

The planes in question would be considered brand new by the major part of appraisers, even if their year of manufacture was 2019 or even 2018. As it was stated by head of valuations for aviation research firm Cirium George Dimitroff, the aircraft is still technically in Boeing’s production system until it’s finally delivered.

Dimitroff also added it’s highly likely that most of the 737 planes ordered by Chinese customers will eventually be taken by them. 

According to his opinion, it doesn't mean that the situation will turn out in such a way that Chinese customers will actually take all the planes that are already built for them, now awaiting to be delivered. Instead, they might opt to some newly manufactures airplanes with a later delivery date, or choose a combination of both options.