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China Southern Airlines Co Ltd has scheduled domestic flights with the 737 MAX on Oct. 30, according to information showed on the carrier’s website, indicating a possible return to service for the Boeing Co model in China after more than three years’ suspension.
The flights from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou and Wuhan, if completed, would be the first 737 MAX passenger flights since the country’s aviation regulator grounded the model in March 2019 after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
Separately, Boeing forecasted that the world’s in-service commercial fleet would nearly double over the next 20 years, growing from 25,900 aircrafts in 2019 to 47,080 by 2041, creating a demand for 41,170 new aircraft in that period, according to its report on Thursday.
By 2041, approximately 42% of new aircraft deliveries will be to airlines based in Asia-Pacific, with China accounting for half of those, Boeing said.
North America will account for 23%, Europe 21%, the Middle East 7%, Latin America 5%, and Africa 2%, it added.
Despite the short-term impacts of the pandemic, the demand for air travel and air freight will continue to trend upwards through 2041, it said.
To meet that demand, the Chinese fleet will grow from around 3,900 to more than 9,600 airplanes through 2041. Boeing forecasts China will need 8,485 new aircraft, valued at $1.5 trillion, or a fifth of global deliveries over the next two decades.