Chicago: India and China would contribute the most in making the Asia-Pacific region the world's largest aviation market by the year 2028, according to commercial airplane maker Boeing, which expects the region to invest 1.1 trillion dollars in new airplanes over the next 20 years.
As more than 40 percent of the world's airline traffic
will begin, end, or take place within the region, 8,960 new
commercial jets valued at approximately 1.1 trillion dollars
would be required over the next 20 years, Boeing Commercial
Airplanes Vice President, Marketing, Randy Tinseth, said.
"Strong domestic growth in China, India and other
emerging Asian nations will contribute to high demand for
single-aisle airplanes. Over the 20-year forecast period, more
than half of the deliveries, some 5,600, will be
single-aisles," Tinseth said.
The region was not even mentioned in Boeing's earliest
market forecasts back in the 1950s. However, between now and
2028, Asia Pacific air travel will grow from 32 percent of
the world market to 41 percent, making it world's largest
aviation market in the next 20 years, Tinseth was quoted as
saying in a statement by the city-based company.
Airlines would switch to more efficient mid-size twins
and even larger single-aisle jets, with airlines in the region
expected to take delivery of 2,590 twin-aisle airplanes.
The region covers a broad area including Japan, Korea,
China, Australia and India and currently accounts for more
than 8,300 flights and 1.2 million travellers daily. Travel in
the region is expected to grow at an average annual rate of
6.5 percent over the next 20 years.
Going forward, the growing Asian markets would lead the
industry into recovery from the current "difficult time" the
sector is facing, Boeing said.
The Asia Pacific fleet will nearly triple from 3,910 to
a total of 11,170 airplanes. More than 80 percent of this
demand would be for growth.
Delivery of new, more fuel-efficient airplanes ensures
the region's fleets would remain among the youngest in the
world, it said.
Boeing's projection also shows the Asia Pacific region
as a growth leader in the long-term global air cargo market,
with routes within China, within Asia and those connecting
Asia to other regions outpacing the global average growth
annual rate of 5.4 percent over the next 20 years.
Asian carriers would add about 750 freighters to the
region's fleet to accommodate growth and airplane retirements,
about 27 per cent of the world requirement - second only to
the more mature, but slower growing, North American market,
Boeing added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 12:19