Boeing (BOE, Washington National) chief lobbyist Ziad Ojakli, who goes by the nickname "Z", has his sights set on improving relations with the White House, where the manufacturer needs support to re-establish B737 MAX sales in China, reports Bloomberg.

For the first time in years, Boeing has a chance to make headway on B737 MAX sales and deliveries to China as the two countries search for common ground. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to visit Beijing early in February, potentially followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping travelling to the US in November to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit. In one promising sign, China Southern Airlines (CZ, Guangzhou) resumed B737-8 flight operations on January 13, 2023 — the first such flight by a domestic Chinese airline in nearly four years.

While the company has the attention of senior White House officials as one of the largest US exporters, its concerns in China compete with President Joe Biden's other priorities, like tensions over Taiwan and steps to disentangle the world's two largest economies.

"Boeing is a very important stakeholder. But Boeing on its own doesn't determine our trade policy," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told Bloomberg in October.

China's tilt to Airbus in recent years has been costly for Boeing, which delivered just eight aircraft to China last year compared to 117 by its European rival. In US-China talks, Biden's team has tended to focus on Chinese economic practices that disadvantage many US companies rather than pressing for specific concessions for Boeing.

Returning the B737 MAX to China and restoring Boeing's political standing would help cement a turnaround and rebuild the manufacturer's balance sheet battered by the nearly two-year global grounding of the B737 MAX and the Covid-19 pandemic. As a major defence contractor, Boeing posted a whopping USD2.8 billion loss in its third quarter in 2022 on five defence and space programmes, while its executives endured a bipartisan shellacking on Capitol Hill over the B737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Last year, Boeing shifted its head office from Chicago to Arlington, close to the Pentagon, citing a need to foster better relations with the US government.

"Everything legislatively was easier before the two crashes and pandemic," said Loren Thompson, a defence consultant executive and long-time political observer. "In terms of their business, this is doubly important to Boeing right now because it has lost ground to Airbus on the commercial side and its defence operations are performing weakly."

According to Bloomberg, Ojakli has faced a steep learning curve since joining Boeing in October 2021 as executive vice president of government, chief lobbyist, and member of the company's executive council. He faced a company whose political sway had been dented from years of internal and external turmoil while its operations were hamstrung by a wave of departures soon after he arrived.

Ojakli is responsible for "advancing the company's public policy priorities, including all US federal, state, and local government liaison operations, as well as Boeing Global Engagement, the company's global philanthropic organisation, according to company information.

He filled several dozen empty posts and worked his connections from posts leading government affairs for Ford Motor Company and SoftBank Group Corporation. Less than a year after joining Boeing, Ojakli was ranked as one of Washington's top corporate lobbyists for 2022 by The Hill, a Beltway trade publication. He is prominent in civic circles, serving as chairman of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC, and on the board of the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the Henry Ford Learning Institute.

Previously, Ojakli served in the White House from 2001 to 2004 as principal deputy for legislative affairs for President George W. Bush. Earlier, he was chief of staff and policy director for US senator Paul Coverdell and held several additional US House and Senate policy and legislative roles as he began his career.