Boeing has increased its forecast for the demand for new aircraft from China, citing the continued strong performance of the country’s economy.
“China is one of the world’s fastest growing and dynamic aviation markets, driven by the urbanisation of China, the growth of its economy and ever-increasing personal wealth,” said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, who released Boeing’s 2010 China market outlook today in Beijing. “We expect domestic passenger traffic for China to grow at a rate of 7.9 percent on average.”
The airframer now expects that carriers in China will require 4300 new commercial aircraft valued at US$480bn (A$480bn) over the next 20 years. Of those new aircraft required, it is expected that 71 per cent will be single-aisle narrowbody aircraft, while twin aisle widebody aircraft will account for 20 per cent of the market. It also forecasts that there will only be 70 airplanes in the large aircraft category, which will primarily be used to connect China to long haul destinations.
Globally, Boeing expects that there will be a need for approximately 30,900 new aircraft by 2029, with the greatest demand coming from the Asia Pacific region due to continued strong passenger growth.
