Photo taken on March 13, 2019 shows the Boeing logo at its headquarters in downtown Chicago, the United States. (Xinhua/Joel Lerner)

Boeing on Friday confirmed to the Global Times that a 787-9 Dreamliner ordered by Juneyao Airlines has departed from Paine Field in Everett pending final handover. It is the first time since November 2019 that Boeing has delivered a 787 Dreamliner plane directly to a Chinese airline. 

The jet took off for Shanghai from Boeing's factory in Everet of Washington, at about 11:25 am local time on Thursday, according to FlightRadar24 flight data. 

Data from industry Information provider VariFlight showed that the plane arrived in Shanghai on Friday afternoon at 4:22 pm.

The delivery shows that Boeing is resuming deliveries of its 787 series aircraft to China, and its cooperation with the Chinese civil aircraft industry and Chinese companies is also returning, Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Friday.  

Due to the epidemic, the entire civil aviation transportation has been affected, and China's acceptance of new aircraft has also slowed down. However, the market is recovering faster as the epidemic ebbs, unbalancing demand and supply, which means "Chinese airlines could receive the aircraft at a faster pace," Wang said. 

From airlines' perspective, restarting the delivery of Boeing series aircraft will also benefit them, as having more planes allows them more freedom in drawing up flight schedules, according to Qi Qi, an independent market watcher.  

Wang also said the Chinese market is very likely to resume cooperation on the 737MAX in the future, but "the key is to see how willing airlines are to resume operations," he said.

China suspended most orders and deliveries of Boeing planes in 2019 after the 737 MAX model was grounded globally following two fatal crashes.

Market insiders said that the delivery of 787 Dreamliner marks the US moving one step closer to resuming deliveries of 737 MAX series aircraft to China.

Information posted on the official website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed that on December 8, the deputy head of CAAC met with Mike Fleming, Boeing's senior vice president of R&D projects and customer support, in Beijing. 

The two sides discussed the development and strengthening of Boeing's operations in China, and exchanged in-depth views on cooperation and other issues.

Fleming said that Boeing attaches great importance to the Chinese market and remains optimistic about its future development, the aircraft manufacturer also reaffirmed its willingness to actively deepen cooperation with China.