Boeing Ends Five-Year China Drought With Delivery of 737 Max

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A Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sits outside the company's manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, in the U.S. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Boeing Co. handed over a 737 Max aircraft to a Chinese airline for the first time since the best-seller was grounded in early 2019, in a boost to the U.S. plane-maker as it works to shore up support for the beleaguered model.

A China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd. Max took off from Boeing Field in Seattle on Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. local time bound for Honolulu, according to tracking service FlightRadar24. The flight is the first of several legs across the Pacific, marking a major milestone nearly five years after Beijing banned the aircraft from flying in the wake of fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.