The Asia-Pacific region will overtake North America and Europe as the world’s largest aircraft market with carriers taking delivery of about US$1.3 trillion worth of new planes over the next 20 years, according to a market forecast released by Airbus today during the Singapore Airshow.
Airbus predicts the region’s airlines will take delivery of 9370 new aircraft during the next two decades, accounting for 34 per cent of global deliveries of planes with more than 100 seats.
The European planemaker said larger aircraft would continue to provide the most efficient means to meet rising demand and overcome capacity constraints at airports in fast growing Asian cities, with widebodies predicted to account for 3650 new orders, or 42 per cent of the global widebody total. Airbus also predicted continued growth for narrow-body planes thanks to increasingly popular budget carriers and the expansion of short haul routes, especially in India and China.
Airbus said it expects Asia-Pacific passenger numbers to grow by 5.9 per cent per year with cargo carriage rising 5.6 per cent annually. Those figures compare with predicted global growth averaging 4.8 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively.
