Summary
- The Chinese regulator is currently reviewing the batteries throughout the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of Boeing aircraft.
- In consequence, Boeing has only delivered one aircraft to a Chinese airline in May 2024.
- The manufacturer has only recently resumed Boeing 737 MAX deliveries to China-based carriers.
Boeing was forced to change the delivery timelines of its aircraft to China because the local regulator is reviewing the batteries throughout the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the manufacturer’s aircraft, the corporate’s spokesperson confirmed to Easy Flying.
Working with Chinese customers
In response to the spokesperson, the corporate has been working with its Chinese airline customers to find out the timing of their deliveries. In an email to Easy Flying, the representative added that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) was reviewing the batteries found contained in the 25-hour CVR of Boeing aircraft.
The event was first reported by Reuters. While the manufacturer’s spokesperson didn’t detail whether this only affects the 737 MAX or also other aircraft inside its lineup, Boeing has only delivered two non-737 MAX aircraft to Chinese-based carriers in 2024. Juneyao Airlines took delivery of a Boeing 787-9 in April, the aircraft manufacturer’s orders and deliveries data showed.
Inside Boeing’s China Relationship Over The Past 50 Years
The last half-century has seen the connection develop in several interesting ways.
Resuming deliveries to China
While Airbus has continued to deliver aircraft to China over the past few years, Boeing was forced to suspend the deliveries of 737 MAX aircraft between 2020 and 2024. The US-based manufacturer’s orders and deliveries data showed that in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, it had delivered 11 aircraft to China-based airlines, split between ten 777F and one 787-9. The latter was handed over in December 2023.
The number doesn’t include deliveries to China-based lessors. Through the same period, Boeing had delivered 22 aircraft, 11 of which were the Boeing 737 MAXs, to CCES Leasing Corporation and ICBC Leasing, the manufacturer’s records showed.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Easy Flying
Nevertheless, it has resumed delivering the Boeing 737 to China-based carriers in 2024. As of April 30, the plane maker had delivered 21 Boeing 737 MAXs to the country’s airlines, including three in April.
In response to ch-aviation data, Boeing has delivered just one aircraft to China in May. China Southern Airlines added a Boeing 787-9, registered as B-20EL, on May 12, despite the undeniable fact that the aircraft first flew on May 15, 2020. The Boeing 787-9 has not flown because it landed at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) on May 13.
![China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_1108130324.jpg)
Boeing Resumes MAX Deliveries To Chinese Customers
A China Southern 737 MAX left Boeing’s Seattle factory on January 24.
Trade war with China
The manufacturer was caught in a trade conflict between China and the US, which began with Donald Trump, the now-former President of the US, imposing tariffs and restrictions on Chinese-made goods in 2018. Joe Biden, the incumbent US President, while imposing a softer tone in some cases, has continued to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
This includes the newest measures announced on May 14, with the White House detailing that tariffs will likely be raised on such goods as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles (EV), EV batteries and their components, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.
Photo: aappp | Shutterstock
Nevertheless, Boeing was forced to suspend deliveries of the 737 MAX when the CAAC became one in all the primary regulators to ground the kind following the kind’s second fatal crash in Ethiopia in March 2019. The CAAC grounded the Boeing 737 MAX on March 11, 2019.
While the Chinese regulator spearheaded the move, with the FAA following suit only on March 13, 2019, it was the last authority to permit airlines to resume flights with the kind. China Southern Airlines was the primary carrier to resume flights with the kind within the country, doing so on January 13, 2023. In December 2023, Boeing said that every one China-operated 737 MAXs had resumed services.
![View from the sky of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft stored on the ground.](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/multiple-airlines-boeing-737-max-8-2.jpg)
Boeing: All China-Operated 737 Max Aircraft Resumed Service This 12 months
Since returning the primary to passenger service in January 2022, China has now relaunched all its 737 MAX aircraft into business operation.
25-hour CVRs
Nevertheless, the most recent FAA reauthorization bill, which Biden signed on May 16, will change what number of hours the CVR has to retain for brand new and older aircraft. The bill addressed CVRs on latest and old aircraft, with separate deadlines for airlines operating older aircraft and aircraft manufacturers constructing latest airframes.
The bill read that an operator may not operate an aircraft built a 12 months after the enactment of the newest FAA Reauthorization Bill unless it has a 25-hour capable CVR. Meanwhile, aircraft that were built prior to Biden signing the act have a six-year deadline to put in a CVR that may retain cockpit conversations for as much as 25 hours.
Photo: Airbus
Moreover, the bill gave the FAA a three-year deadline to provide you with a final rule to update the applicable regulations to fulfill the necessities of the bill. This includes provisions that the recordings are protected against illegal disclosure to the general public, used exclusively by federal and/or foreign aircraft safety event investigators, and can’t be tampered with following a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reportable event.
![American Airlines and Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft at LAX](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/clipboard-6-1.jpg)
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Overriding recordings
EASA first issued its opinion regarding a 25-hour-capable CVR on May 5, 2014, forming a committee to draft a regulation that will be presented to legislators of the European Union (EU). The draft regulation was finalized and published on December 16, 2015.
The European Commission (EC) subsequently published Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/2338, which had an efficient date of January 5, 2016, mandating that every one aircraft built on or after January 1, 2021, with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of no less than 27,000 kilograms (59,524 lbs), needed to have a 25 hour CVR.
Within the US, the NTSB beneficial that the FAA mandate 25-hour CVRs as early as October 2018. On the time, a security advice report by the NTSB read that the board was urging the FAA to take motion and mandate latest CVRs on latest and older aircraft.
Photo: NTSB
Nevertheless, the problem had not been resolved and got here to light once more when the National Airspace System (NAS) experienced a mess of safety events previously few months, including quite a few runway incursions and the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-air door plug blowout.
Shortly after the latter incident, Jennifer Homendy, the Chair of the NTSB, confirmed that the CVR of the flight was overwritten. The board’s preliminary report read that the recorder’s circuit breaker had not been manually deactivated, leading to the flight crew’s cockpit conversations not being available to investigators.
![An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft Andrew Mauro-2](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/an-alaska-airlines-boeing-737-max-9-aircraft-andrew-mauro-2.jpg)
Uh Oh: Data From Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 Voice Recorder Was Wiped
A circuit breaker was not pulled to save lots of the info.