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Toulouse, France: Airbus, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, forecast that airlines will buy 24,300 planes worth $2.8 trillion over the next 20 years, with demand growing most quickly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Average annual deliveries from all planemakers will total 1,215 passenger and freighter aircraft, 7.5 per cent higher than the 1,130 predicted by Toulouse, France-based Airbus in its last market forecast in 2006.
Passenger traffic is likely to grow an average of 4.9 per cent over the 20 years, with the pace of growth in Asia and other developing regions faster than in the US and Europe, Airbus Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said yesterday. "We know about China, we know about India," Leahy said at a briefing in London.
"Low-cost carriers are also growing very rapidly, and we're seeing high growth rates for domestic markets, especially in China."
Airbus expects the world fleet to more than double to about 28,550 within 20 years, from about 13,300 large commercial aircraft now in operation. Airbus considers large airliners those that seat more than 100 people.
The manufacturer is neck-and-neck with Chicago-based Boeing Co. in competing for large plane sales.
Leahy said developed regions of the world, including North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australasia, have one billion people, while developing regions including China and India contain 5 billion people, many of whom have never flown.
Traffic in North America will grow 4.1 per cent a year over 20 years, compared with 5.6 per cent in Western Europe, 5.2 per cent in Japan and 6.4 per cent in Australia, he predicted.
Passenger growth may be 11 per cent in both India and China.
Even with faster growth rates in Asia, North American carriers will be the biggest purchasers of planes over the next 20 years, followed by China, he said.
Singapore and the United Arab Emirates were included in a list of the top 10 purchasers over the next two decades.
Airbus expects the world fleet to more than double to about 28,550 within 20 years, from about 13,300 large commercial aircraft now in operation.
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