(New York) Aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced Thursday the delivery to Juneyao Airlines of a 787-9 Dreamliner, the first passenger plane delivered by the American aircraft manufacturer to a Chinese company in four years.

The plane departed Everett, Washington, around 11:25 a.m. ET on Thursday, Boeing said.

According to the FlightAware website, it is heading to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

Juneyao received, in November 2019, the last plane delivered by Boeing to a Chinese company, also a 787, the American group said, specifying that more than 110 Dreamliners had been delivered in total to Chinese customers.

The aircraft manufacturer considers the Chinese market to be a crucial market. It forecasts that China will need 8,560 new passenger planes by 2042 and alone will generate about 20% of global demand.

But deliveries to Chinese companies of the 737, Boeing’s flagship plane, have still not resumed.

The 737 MAX was banned in China after two fatal crashes in October 2018 and March 2019 grounded it worldwide. The American Civil Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended him from flying for twenty months, until November 2020.

A Chinese company flew a 737 MAX again in January 2023.

During an audio conference with analysts at the end of October, the executives of the American aircraft manufacturer indicated that 85 planes from the 737 family were ready to be delivered to Chinese companies.

“We continue to support our customers in China and will be ready to deliver to our Chinese customers when the time comes,” Boeing said Thursday.