China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) has removed all 103 B737-8s it planned to take through the end of 2024 from its fleet plan over "uncertainty surrounding the delivery", Bloomberg has reported citing the carrier's investor briefing.

The decision represents a sudden change of plans. In March 2022, the airline still planned to take 181 aircraft through the end of 2024, including 103 B737 MAX (39 of which were scheduled to deliver by the end of 2022). The current plan has dwindled to just 78 aircraft of other types.

China Southern Airlines took twenty-four B737-8s before the type's global grounding in March 2019, making it China's largest operator of the MAX. China remains the only country in the world that keeps the B737 MAX grounded. Even though the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) outlined steps toward the type's recertification in December 2021, it remains unclear when it will actually allow airlines to restart commercial B737 MAX operations and deliveries. China's Special Administrative Regions of Macao and Hong Kong, which both have independent civil aviation regulator bodies, permitted B737 MAX operations to resume in January 2022.

As is typical of the large state-owned Chinese carriers, China Southern Airlines does not have any disclosed orders placed directly with Boeing and would be taking B737 MAX either from the pool of undisclosed customers or via lessors.