India, China to help make Asia-Pacific largest aviation market

As more than 40 per cent 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 per cent of the world market to 41 per cent, 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent 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.