AP FILE PHOTO
SINGAPORE – The Asia-Pacific will require almost 13,000 new airplanes worth $1.9 trillion over the next 20 years, Boeing said Monday, as booming wealth in the region fuels demand for air travel.
Ahead of the Singapore Airshow, the US plane maker said 12,820 extra aircraft would be needed by 2032 and that in the same period the region would account for 36 percent of global commercial deliveries for both passenger and freight.
It also estimated the Asia-Pacific fleet to reach 14,750 in that time, compared with 5,090 in 2012.
The statement came after Boeing’s European rival Airbus said last month that Asia-Pacific carriers will take delivery of 9,870 new passenger and cargo aircraft valued at $1.6 trillion over the next 20 years.
“Over the next 20 years, nearly half of the world’s air traffic growth will be driven by travel to, or from within, the region,” Boeing said in a statement.
Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice president for marketing, said: “New low-cost carriers and demand for intra-Asia travel have fuelled the substantial increase in single-aisle planes.”
Demand for travel in the region is soaring thanks to a fast-growing middle class in countries such as booming emerging economies China and India.
The Singapore Airshow, which opens Tuesday, is Asia’s top aerospace and defense exhibition.
Both commercial and military manufacturers use the event to boost sales in the region, where defense spending is also on the rise at a time of festering territorial disputes.