Boeing Bets Its Comeback on Trump, China and an Elusive New Plane
CEO Kelly Ortberg must soon decide how to replace the 737 — and restore public trust.
Boeing 737 Max fuselages. China is considering a deal for about 500 of the narrowbody jets.
Photographer: David Ryder/BloombergWhen Richard Nixon landed in Beijing in 1972 to end a quarter-century of Chinese diplomatic and economic isolation, his hosts were so enthralled with the US president’s airliner that within months they ordered 10 Boeing Co. 707 jets.
That purchase kicked off one of the most consequential commercial relationships in the planemaker’s 110-year history and helped turn China into the world’s second-largest aviation market after the US. Now Boeing is poised to reprise that moment when President Donald Trump heads to China this week in search of his own breakthrough with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.