China is stepping up pressure on Boeing Co for compensation over the grounding of its 737 Max jetliners and a role in approving changes after two fatal crashes.
Two of three major state-owned carriers — Air China Ltd (中國國際航空) and China Southern Airlines Ltd (南方航空) — yesterday said they want compensation for their aircraft being grounded.
The third, China Eastern Airlines Ltd (東方航空), announced a similar request last month.
Photo: AP / Chinatopix
China is, along with North America and Europe, one of the biggest markets for jetliners. That makes its response critical for Boeing.
It was among the first nations to ground the 737 Max in March following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people.
Investigators have suggested that a flight-control system was responsible for both 737 Max crashes.
“We must use punishment, and tell the Americans their practice of using concealment and fraud to extract benefits from others, while benefiting themselves, is unfair,” said the Global Times, which is published by the Chinese Communist Party and known for its nationalistic tone.
Air China also wants compensation for delays in aircraft deliveries, an employee of its publicity department said.
He declined to give his name or details of the claim.
China Southern wants compensation for disruption due to being unable to use its 737 Max planes, an employee of its publicity department surnamed Wang said.
The nation’s aviation regulator last month said that any changes in design or training would be “fully evaluated” based on the results of investigations into fatal 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
That suggested Beijing wants to examine and approve any changes instead of relying on Boeing or the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
China is one of nine members on an FAA review panel, along with Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
“Let everyone participate to show you aren’t cheating,” said Guangcha.com, a news Web site.
Boeing has estimated that Chinese carriers would buy 7,700 jetliners over the next two decades.
The Chinese government alternates orders between Boeing and Airbus SE to maintain competition and hold down prices.
A state-owned manufacturer is developing a Chinese competitor to Boeings’ 737 and Airbus’ A320.
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
ELECTRONICS: Strong growth in cloud services and smart consumer electronics offset computing declines, helping the company to maintain sales momentum, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday announced that its sales for last month rose 10 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in cloud and networking products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported consolidated sales of NT$540.24 billion (US$18.67 billion) for the month, the highest ever for the period, and a 10.09 percent increase from a year earlier, although it was down 12.26 percent from the previous month. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said its cloud
APPRECIATION: The central bank stepped in to stabilize the NT dollar after a surge in foreign institutional investment, triggered by optimism about tariffs and US Fed policy Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, as the central bank intervened in the currency market to curb the New Taiwan dollar’s appreciation against the US dollar. Foreign exchange reserves increased by US$5.48 billion from May, reaching an all-time high of US$598.43 billion, the central bank said on Friday. While the central bank did not disclose the scale of its intervention, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) said that the currency market remained relatively stable until the middle of last month. However, a shift occurred following the US Federal Reserve’s signal of a
RSS