Boeing + COMAC
Boeing
Arlington, Virginia · 2 relationships
Active relationship
Strategic Partnership · 2012–present
COMAC
Shanghai, Shanghai · 2 relationships
Analysis
Boeing and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China signed their first formal collaboration agreement in March 2012. The agreement created a Beijing-based technology center focused on aviation energy conservation and emissions reduction and contemplated cooperation on sustainable aviation fuels, air-traffic-management efficiency, materials, cabin environments and industry development. [1]
The relationship later gained a manufacturing and delivery component through the Boeing-COMAC 737 Completion Center in Zhoushan, Zhejiang. The campus combines a jointly operated completion center with a Boeing-owned delivery center; aircraft assembled in Renton are flown to China for interior installation, painting, flight testing, customer acceptance and delivery-related work. [2] [3]
Construction began in 2017, and the center delivered its first aircraft—a 737 MAX 8 for Air China—in December 2018, twenty months after work started at the 100-acre site. Boeing described it as the company's first 737 completion facility outside the United States and said the center was designed to support the full MAX family. [3]
The arrangement is notable because Boeing and COMAC cooperate operationally while also competing in the single-aisle aircraft market. Boeing's 2026 recruitment for a Zhoushan completion-center chief executive continued to describe the facility as a COMAC joint venture performing final assembly completion, interiors and painting for 737 MAX aircraft, evidence that the institutional structure remains in place. [4]
Participants
Continue through either entity
Arlington, Virginia · 2 records in this database
The Boeing Company began in Seattle in 1916, when William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt entered the aviation business and Boeing formed Pacific Aero Products; the company was renamed Boeing Airplane Company in 1917. Boeing's early operations included aircraft manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest, and the company has since developed into a major aerospace manufacturer and services provider. [1]
Boeing's 2025 Form 10-K describes three reportable segments: Commercial Airplanes, Defense, Space & Security, and Global Services. Commercial Airplanes develops, produces and markets commercial jet aircraft, including the 737, 767, 777 and 787 families, with the 777X and 737-7 and 737-10 derivatives in development. [2]
Defense, Space & Security develops and produces manned and unmanned military aircraft, weapons systems, rotorcraft, commercial derivatives, strategic defense and intelligence systems, satellites and space-exploration systems. Global Services supports commercial and defense customers with supply-chain and logistics management, engineering, maintenance, modifications, upgrades, spare parts, training, technical documentation and digital solutions. [2]
Boeing's modern corporate structure was reshaped by its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, after which the companies began operating as a single Boeing with commercial, defense and space capabilities. Boeing now says it develops, manufactures and services aerospace products for customers in more than 150 countries, and its principal executive offices are in Arlington, Virginia. [3] [4] [5]
Shanghai, Shanghai · 2 records in this database
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd., known as COMAC, was founded in Shanghai on May 11, 2008. COMAC says it is the main vehicle for China’s large passenger-aircraft programs and is responsible for overall planning of trunk-liner and regional-jet programs and the industrialization of civil aircraft. Its stated activities include civil-aircraft research, manufacturing, flight testing, marketing, servicing, leasing, and operations. [1]
COMAC operates through a network of specialist organizations that includes a design and research center, assembly-manufacturing center, customer-service center, flight-test company, supporting center, marketing and sales center, academy, finance companies, and overseas offices. This organization gives COMAC responsibilities across the aircraft life cycle, from design and production through certification support, delivery, and customer service. [1]
Its principal commercial programs are the C909 regional jet and the C919 trunk-liner aircraft. COMAC’s published product information gives the basic C909 a 78–97-seat layout and a range of 2,225–3,700 kilometers, while the basic C919 is listed at 158–192 seats and a range of 4,075–5,555 kilometers. COMAC also presents the C929 as a widebody program with a baseline layout of 282–440 seats. [2]
The C919 received its Chinese type certificate in 2022 and entered commercial service on May 28, 2023, on China Eastern Airlines’ Shanghai–Beijing route. In August 2024, Air China and China Southern received their first C919 aircraft, marking a move toward operation by multiple users; COMAC said nine C919 aircraft had been delivered at that point. [3] [4] [5]
COMAC’s international relevance is visible in the C909’s overseas operating relationships. Two C909 aircraft wet-leased by Chengdu Airlines to Vietjet Air began the Hanoi–Con Dao–Ho Chi Minh City route in April 2025; COMAC reported that TransNusa, Lao Airlines, and Vietjet Air had by then used C909 aircraft on 15 Southeast Asian routes carrying more than 250,000 passengers. Those arrangements connect COMAC’s manufacturing and support system with foreign airline operations without implying that the airlines are COMAC subsidiaries. [6]