China Sends Team to Buy Boeing Jets

The Chinese government sent a team to the U.S. to buy Boeing Co. aircraft, one week after officials said the country would accelerate plans to purchase planes.

The officials plan to buy about $2 billion worth of Boeing planes on their trip, said Wang Zhezhao, a spokesman for Shandong Airlines Co. Shandong Air has plans to buy two Boeing 737s of its own through a share sale in China.

China has held up purchases of new jetliners of more than 100 seats for about three years as airlines cope with excess capacity. Airlines’ plans to buy more short-range jets, such as the Boeing 737, to improve efficiency also had been blocked as relations with the U.S. soured over spy planes and other issues. Those ties now have begun to warm after last month’s visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Colin Powell.