Boeing 737 MAX still key to restoring confidence in China as US aerospace giant faces ‘challenging times’

Boeing has long found itself entangled in the long running trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, but restoring confidence in its key Chinese market is still dependent on the return of the grounded 737 MAX, analysts said.

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, which crashed in the Guangxi autonomous region on Monday, was a Boeing 737-800, which is an older version of the 737 MAX that has been grounded in China since 2019 after 346 people died in two fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.