03 November 2010 | By Tu Lei
Boeing Co, the world's largest aerospace firm, forecast Tuesday that China will triple the size of its air fleet over the next 20 years, requiring some 4,330 new commercial airplanes valued at a whopping $480 billion. If true, this would make China the largest airplane market outside of the United States by 2029.
Boeing is expecting strong Chinese demand for new, more fuel-efficient single-aisle airplanes, which will account for 71 percent of the 4,330 aircraft deliveries. Last year, the Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing said China would need only 3,770 new airplanes by 2029.
"China is one of the world's fastest growing and dynamic aviation markets, driven by the urbanization of China, the growth of its economy and ever increasing personal wealth," Randy Tinseth, marketing vice president said at Boeing's 2010 China market outlook yesterday in Beijing.
China's cargo carriers will snap up about 330 freighter airplanes by 2029, also tripling the size of the nation's air-cargo fleet, according to Boeing's forecast.
Taking into consideration future growth of China's rapidly expanding high-speed railway system, Boeing said domestic passenger traffic would expand at a rate of 7.9 percent on average. "The figure shows that Boeing is very optimist about the Chinese market," said Wang Boxue, a senior researcher from AVIC Development Research Center Tuesday.
The center is part of State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which is expected to make a similar 20-year prediction during the six-day Zhuhai Airshow, which starts November 16 in South China's Guangdong Province.
Last year, rival Airbus also predicted that the Asia-pacific region would need more than 8,000 aircraft worth some $1.2 trillion and accounting for one third of global demand by 2028. Airbus also forecast Chinese mainland will need 2,798 new passenger and freighter aircraft. Seeking to underscore his company's long-term relationship with its Chinese partners,
Tinseth yesterday said, "Boeing's equity investment in China is considerable, and the aviation goods and services we buy from China are significantly greater than other aviation companies." "In the coming years, Boeing purchases in China are expected to exceed $3 billion." According to Boeing, more than 5,700 Boeing planes are assembled in China and currently in use throughout the world with made-in-China components.
