It signed a cooperation document with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) to build the aircraft completion center for its 737 passenger jet in China, added Xinhua.
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The head of Boeing Co’s largest union pledged to fight for jobs threatened by a proposed factory in China, stepping up a confrontation over the plant just as China’s president visited the Seattle area.
Boeing Co (BA) gained 82 cents to $134.61 after the aircrafts maker received an order for 300 jets aircraft at list prices of about $10 billionfrom three Chinese firms.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump bashed Boeing Co. on Wednesday over its plans to open a new facility in China that the company’s largest union says could hurt American workers.
Muilenburg, who became CEO on July 1, said Boeing has had operations in China for 42 years and is continuing to invest to expand its capabilities there.
COMAC confirmed to AFP that it will set up a joint venture with Boeing for interior completion, painting and other delivery support services for Chinese customers.
The completion center announcement was also expected if not exactly anticipated, at least by Boeing’s labor unions.
“Most of the planes will be for growth, and very few will be for replacement”, said Malayan Banking Bhd.
“The emerging middle class in China is helping to boost demand”, Mohshin Aziz, an analyst at Malayan Banking Bhd.in Kuala Lumpur, told Bloomberg News.
But the move could be controversial for Boeing at home.
A location for the planned facility has yet to be selected, but it would install seats, in-flight entertainment systems, and some galleys and lavatories, as well as the custom paint job for each airline, the reports said.
“This is not simply about China”, he said. Ray Conner, chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a memo to employees Tuesday that it will not result in layoffs at its Washington state plant, Bloomberg News said.
But China wants some of the market to go to its own homegrown planes.
“China’s rapidly growing aviation market plays a crucial role in our current and future success”, Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said in a statement issued last week to announce the visit. It assembles its A320 single-aisle model in Tianjin, which flows mostly into the Chinese market.
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China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, ICBC Financial Leasing, and China Development Bank Leasing are the firms involved in the deal.
