Boeing (BA.N) jet was heading back to the U.S. on Monday. The jet was intended for a Chinese airline. Flight tracking data showed this movement. It appeared to be another victim of the tit-for-tat bilateral tariffs. President Donald Trump launched these tariffs in his global trade offensive.
Data from AirNav Radar showed that the 737 MAX 8 landed in the U.S. territory of Guam on Monday. It had left Boeing’s Zhoushan completion center near Shanghai.
Guam is one of the stops such flights make. These flights travel the 5,000-mile (8,000-km) journey across the Pacific. The journey is between Boeing’s U.S. production hub in Seattle and the Zhoushan completion center. Boeing ferries planes to the Zhoushan center for final work and delivery to a Chinese carrier.
On Sunday, a 737 MAX painted with the livery for China’s Xiamen Airlines made the return journey from Zhoushan. It landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field.
A spokesperson for Xiamen Airlines confirmed on Monday that two planes marked for the carrier had gone to the U.S. The spokesperson declined to “provide a reason.”
“It is not clear which party made the decision for the two aircraft to return to the U.S.”
Boeing could find a replacement buyer in Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines has said it was talking to the manufacturer about acquiring jets. These jets may become available should Chinese airlines stop taking deliveries.
Trump this month raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%. In retaliation, China has imposed a 125% tariff on U.S. goods. A Chinese airline taking delivery of a Boeing jet could be crippled by the tariffs. According to IBA, an aviation consultancy, a new 737 MAX has a market value of around $55 million.
The plane flew from Seattle to Zhoushan just under a month ago.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The return of the 737 MAX jets is the latest sign of disruption to new aircraft deliveries. The 737 MAX is Boeing’s best-selling model. This disruption is due to a breakdown in the aerospace industry’s decades-old duty-free status.
The tariff war and apparent U-turn over deliveries comes as Boeing has been recovering. It has been recovering from an almost five-year import freeze on 737 MAX jets and a previous round of trade tensions.
Confusion over changing tariffs could leave many aircraft deliveries in limbo. Analysts say that some airline CEOs have stated that “they would defer delivery of planes rather than pay duties.”
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