Boeing 737s will be completed and delivered to Chinese customers from the island-city of Zhoushan on China’s mid-eastern coast under an agreement announced on 28 October.
The announced location of the 737 completion centre comes 13 months after the joint venture of Boeing and Comac was formed, with additional financial support from the Chinese government.
The timeline for building the facility and starting deliveries will “depend on discussions and final agreements with the Chinese government and our joint venture partner Comac”, Boeing tells FlightGlobal in an email.
Boeing will continue building up the 737 fuselage sections and wings in Wichita, Kansas and Renton, Washington and assembling the structures together with engines and systems in Renton. The green aircraft then will fly to Zhoushan, where the Boeing-Comac joint venture will install interiors, paint the airframes and deliver the completed aircraft to Chinese customers.
The completion centre is the only one of its kind for Boeing located outside the USA. It will serve Boeing’s customers in what the company believes will be the fastest-growing market in the world for narrowbody aircraft over the next 20 years.
The selection comes three years after Zhoushan city officials decided to establish an aviation industrial park on the site of an 18-year-old airport with an 8,200ft runway. The airport is actually located on the island of Zhujiajianzhen, which is connected by bridge to the larger Zhoushan island.
The regional airport supports nearly 400 flights per month by eight airlines to 12 destinations, according to FlightGlobal Fleet Analyzer.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
