BEIJING, 3 Nov. 2008.Boeing officials detailed their 2008 Current Market Outlook (CMO) for the China region today, forecasting a market for 3,710 new airplanes worth about $390 billion over the next 20 years.
"China will continue to be the fastest-growing aviation center in the world, requiring 41 percent of the entire Asia-Pacific region airplane demand. This makes China the largest market outside of the U.S. for new commercial airplanes," says Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing.
China air travel and air cargo market growth will cause China's fleet to more than triple to 4,560 airplanes by 2027-about as many airplanes as are in Europe today, Boeing officials say.
Single-aisle airplanes will account for 70 percent of the new purchases. Single-aisle airplanes such as the Boeing Next-Generation 737 will be the largest category, with 2,600 new airplane deliveries. Demand for intermediate twin-aisles, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777, will result in approximately 780 airplane deliveries, company officials say. When combined, the single-aisle and intermediate twin-aisle market will make up 91 percent of China's total delivery dollars.
Demand will include a limited number of large airplanes (747-size and larger) to connect China with other major world destinations. The market forecast calls for about 100 airplanes in that category.
With China's cargo markets leading the global industry, Chinese air carriers will add about 370 freighter airplanes by 2027, quadrupling its total freighter fleet size.
The Boeing 2008 forecast combines today's market environment with a long-term view that portrays how air transport will be transformed over the next 20 years, company officials say. It is an outlook that indicates continued strong fundamentals underlying the need for new airplanes-including economic growth, world trade, aviation market liberalization, and new aircraft capabilities.
Worldwide, Boeing projects investments of $3.2 trillion for 29,400 new commercial airplanes to be delivered during the next 20 years. The complete forecast is available on the Boeing Web site at www.boeing.com/commercial/cmo/index.html.
