Explained | How China’s withdrawal from Boeing deal could open opportunities for Indian carriers

As the trade war between the United States and China intensifies, Beijing has reportedly asked its airlines not to take delivery of aircraft from the American aviation giant Boeing. US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the reports in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, where he said that China “just reneged on the big Boeing deal.” Could this benefit India? Some aviation experts believe it might.

Subhash Goyal, Chairman, Aviation and Tourism Committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce says, there is a big opportunity for India. And the faster we swing in, we can convert this challenge into an opportunity. Our aerospace industries will definitely benefit. I mean, that’s the biggest sector that is going to benefit. We need to act quickly and fast. India is the only market after China, which has placed orders for about 1,000 aircraft – both with Boeing and Airbus. But America is going to lose as far as the aircraft supplies are concerned, because they (China) have an alternative supplier in Airbus. So, if they have cancelled their Boeing orders, they might shift to Airbus. But still, I think it’s a very fluid situation and we’ll have to wait and watch.

Others agree that there is an opportunity here, but given the frequent tariff changes by the Trump administration, they advise a wait-and-watch approach.

Ajay Singh, CEO, SpiceJet says, we will continue to discuss with the manufacturers and see how best we can improve our own situation… we don’t know what the situation is, how many aircraft will be delivered to China and what will happen to those aircraft. But I think for some time there will be a wait and watch on the part of the manufacturer and there won’t be any immediate impact of these tariffs and you don’t even know with the way things are going how long the tariffs are going to take, because there seems to be some kind of rethinking and flip flops which are happening, but to the extent that we can take advantage of what has happened of course we will do.

Experts say the supply reshuffle could also benefit Air India Express and Akasa, both of which have placed orders for Boeing aircraft and are awaiting deliveries.

Published on April 17, 2025