Boeing’s recent hiring trends reveal a significant shift in focus from China to India, reflecting the broader geopolitical and economic strategies of the United States. As of Wednesday, Boeing’s career site listed only five job openings in China, three of which were for engineering r
oles. In stark contrast, there were 83 job openings in India, with 58 of those being engineering positions. This means that Boeing is currently hiring nearly 20 times more engineers in India than in China, a trend that has been consistent for several weeks.
Boeing, which is navigating through one of its most challenging periods due to safety and management crises, has approximately 2,200 employees in China compared to over 6,000 in India. This is despite the fact that India’s total commercial aviation fleet is about one-sixth the size of China’s. The disparity in hiring between the two countries highlights India’s growing importance as a hub for American companies seeking to diversify away from China.
This shift is not just limited to Boeing but is part of a broader strategy among top U.S. companies. India is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for American businesses looking to diversify their manufacturing and engineering talent away from China. Recent statements by a senior U.S. official about recruiting more Indian students for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors over Chinese students further underscore this shift.
However, it is important to recognize China’s crucial role in Boeing’s historical success. China’s engineering talent has been integral to Boeing’s establishment as a global leader in aircraft manufacturing, alongside Europe’s Airbus. This relationship dates back to 1916 when Boeing hired Wong Tsu, a Beijing-born engineer and MIT graduate, who was instrumental in designing Boeing’s first financially successful plane, the Model C naval training seaplane. This early success laid the foundation for Boeing’s later achievements, including its first dedicated passenger plane a decade later.
Boeing’s relationship with China deepened in the 1970s, with the U.S. aerospace giant establishing multiple joint ventures in China, including engineering, maintenance, and research centers, as well as a 737 completion and delivery center. Despite this long-standing partnership, Boeing has been reluctant to disclose its future hiring plans in China or elsewhere, according to a communications representative for Boeing China.
The company’s recent struggles, including the deadly crashes of its 737 Max aircraft in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019, have severely damaged Boeing’s reputation. These incidents led to the global grounding of the 737 Max and a significant decline in the company’s brand value. Although Boeing has resumed deliveries of the 737 Max to China after implementing safety fixes, the damage may be irreversible. China has since developed its own domestic passenger jet, the C919, through the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), which poses a direct challenge to Boeing and Airbus in the market.
China is expected to become the world’s largest aviation market within the next two decades, with Boeing’s 2024 Commercial Market Outlook predicting a need for 8,830 aircraft deliveries in the country by 2043. However, Boeing’s continuous safety concerns, coupled with rising political and trade tensions between the U.S. and China, are prompting the company to look elsewhere to expand its engineering and design capabilities.
India is one of the countries courting U.S. companies that are eager to reduce their reliance on China. Boeing has responded by investing significantly in India, including the opening of its largest facility outside the U.S. in Bengaluru in January. This Boeing India Engineering and Technology Centre (BIETC) represents an investment of approximately $200 million. At the center’s inauguration, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India’s potential and the need to rapidly build an aircraft manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
Salil Gupta, president of Boeing India, emphasized the unique opportunities that the Indian market presents, not only for serving civil aviation and defense customers but also for supporting aerospace globally in both engineering and manufacturing. Most of Boeing’s job openings in India are located in Bengaluru, reflecting the city’s growing importance as a hub for aerospace engineering.
India’s civil aviation market is one of the fastest-growing in the world, with South Asia projected to require 2,835 aircraft deliveries by 2043, which would quadruple the region’s existing fleet. India is currently the third-largest domestic airline market globally, behind the U.S. and China. Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, attributes Boeing’s greater presence in India to the country’s rapidly expanding aviation market and the “China plus one” strategy, which aims to diversify business away from China.
Palit also noted that the U.S. and India are collaborating extensively on defense and technology, including aerospace. Boeing’s increasing role in India aligns with this broader collaboration. He pointed out that Airbus is also expanding its presence in India, indicating the country’s growing importance in the global aerospace industry. India is expected to emerge as a hub for aerospace manufacturing due to its domestic demand, strategic location for third-country exports, and gradual growth as an aviation service hub for the Indo-Pacific region.
Despite Boeing’s commitment to India, the company continues to view China as a top market priority. In an interview with Shenzhen TV in May, Boeing China president Liu Qing reiterated China’s rising need for aircraft over the next two decades. However, Boeing has not commented on whether it plans to expand its employee base and presence in China to meet this future demand.
Boeing’s introduction to the Chinese aviation market began in the early 1970s, following a visit by then-U.S. president Richard Nixon. Since then, more than 10,000 Boeing planes worldwide have incorporated parts and assemblies built in China. Boeing even formed joint ventures with Comac to build the 737 Completion and Delivery Centre in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. However, with China’s domestic aircraft manufacturing still in its early stages, the country has turned to Airbus over Boeing to supply its new fleet, further eroding Boeing’s market share in China.
Boeing’s struggles extend beyond the crashes of the 737 Max. A series of incidents, including wheels falling off planes and panels blowing off mid-air, have raised ongoing safety concerns. Following the grounding of the 737 Max, it was revealed that Boeing had outsourced some of its software coding to temporary workers in India to cut costs. However, Boeing has clarified that the engineers hired from India did not work on the software systems linked to the fatal crashes.
Despite these challenges, China’s domestic passenger flow is expected to become the world’s largest by 2043, surpassing North America and Europe, according to Boeing’s outlook. Similarly, passenger flow in South Asia is projected to rise from 14th place to 7th place by 2043, reflecting the region’s status as the fastest-growing civil aviation market globally.
