BEIJING—Boeing’s long-awaited delivery resumption of its 737 MAX jets to China faces fresh delays after the Alaska Airlines incident, as the plane maker was poised to benefit from the thaw in U.S.-China relations.

China Southern Airlines, one of several Chinese carriers with undelivered MAX jets, has been readying to receive Boeing’s planes as early as January, people familiar with the matter said. Now the airline is planning to conduct additional safety inspections on those aircraft following the incident, the people said, though the jets to be delivered aren’t the same variant as Alaska’s MAX 9.