Boeing sales soar to new heights

Boeing received more than 230 orders from the China market, with 130 of them from leasing companies, Marc Allen said.

"It is the first year that Boeing sold airplanes directly to Chinese leasing companies. They contributed more than half of the orders over the year," said Allen, who will take over the position of Boeing Capital Corp's president in March.

All the orders from leasing companies are narrow-bodied aircraft, including both the Boeing 737 NG and 737 Max. The first Boeing airplane will be delivered to a Chinese leasing company in 2014, he added.

China's leasing market will be a main segment for aircraft manufacturers in the future, after the central government released the suggestion it would support the aircraft leasing industry at the end of 2013.

There are five leasing companies with more than 5 billion yuan ($826 million) registered capital in China at present. Domestic leasing companies run more than 300 aircraft currently.

"China's aircraft leasing industry will have a golden period in the coming two decades," said Wei Tao, an analyst from China Securities Co Ltd.

It is common for airlines to add capacity through leasing aircraft in the global civil aviation industry, he said, but China's leasing market was monopolized by international companies for a long time. China's own leasing industry will develop substantially in the future with the government's support, he added.

The newly established privately owned airlines also pushed the aircraft manufacturers' order growth upwards in China.

China's aviation authority accepted applications for new airlines in early 2013 after a six-year suspension. The first new carrier in China since 2007 started flights in December.

"The market segmentation has become much richer and more robust compared with five years ago," Boeing's Allen said.

China is not only a market for airplanes from other countries but also a significant supplier to international aircraft manufacturers.

The contract value between Boeing and its Chinese suppliers increased by 20 percent in 2013 compared with 2012. AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co Ltd became the first Chinese supplier of the Boeing 737 Max last year.

In 2013, the assembly line of Airbus in Tianjin delivered 46 A320 family aircraft, which was nine more than it managed in 2012.

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