ZHOUSHAN, China -- Boeing and joint venture partner Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, Ltd (COMAC) delivered the first airplane from the new 737 Completion and Delivery Center in Zhoushan, China on December 15. Air China received the first plane, marking a new era in Boeing's partnership with the Chinese aviation industry.

Delivery of the first MAX 8, assembled in Renton, Wash. and completed in China, comes 20 months after construction began at the 100-acre site. The 737 Completion and Delivery Center is the first such Boeing facility outside of the United States. The facility has been built in partnership with the Zhejiang Provincial and Zhoushan Municipal Governments and will become fully operational in phases as capacity is expanded over time.

Boeing 737 MAXs for Chinese airlines will be flown from Seattle to Zhoushan, where the joint Boeing-COMAC Completion Center will complete interior work on the airplanes. The statement of work will gradually expand to include painting with the addition of three paint hangers. Once completed, airplanes will move to the adjacent Boeing-operated delivery center for customer acceptance activities and delivery formalities.

The facility, which covers 666,000 square feet in total, is designed to support the entire 737 MAX family of airplanes, from the long-range MAX 7 to the high-capacity MAX 10. About one third of all 737 deliveries are going to Chinese customers.

China is on course to become the largest commercial aviation market in the world. Boeing's latest Commercial Market Outlook forecasts that China will need 7,680 new airplanes worth $1.2 trillion USD over the next 20 year and another $1.5 trillion USD in commercial services to support the country's growing fleet of airplanes.

Source: Boeing