Boeing Nears Major Order From China --- Nation Is Expected to Buy $5 Billion of Airliners, But Trade Status Is Issue
Boeing Co. is within weeks of wrapping up a huge order from China for more than 50 commercial airliners valued at more than $5 billion, people familiar with the talks said.</br></br>The negotiations are expected to produce orders for as many as 15 of the company's new twin-engine 777 jetliners, plus a similar number of orders for both midsize 757 jets and for the smallest 737 planes. The purchase also is expected to include a number of wide-bodied 747-400 jumbo jets, probably less than 10.</br></br>The talks are in their final stages, the people said, awaiting the pending U.S. decision on whether to extend China's "most-favored-nation" trading status. One person said the talks slowed down for a while, just as aircraft-order negotiations do every year when the U.S. renewal of the trading status for China is pending. But there were direct discussions in China earlier this month between Boeing airplane unit President Ronald Woodard and Chinese airline and aviation officials. And people with knowledge of the talks said they have been progressing lately because most officials in Washington expect that the MFN decision to be announced by President Clinton will favor a renewal, with only mild penalties</br></br>Seattle-based Boeing, which counts on China for about 14% of its commercial aircraft orders, has made no secret of its reliance on the fast-growing Chinese market, especially when other world air-travel markets still are pulling slowly out of a severe recession.</br></br>A spokesman for Boeing's commercial-airplane unit would say only, "Serious discussions are under way. MFN is the big question right now."