Boeing raises view of China's airplane fleet

Chinese airlines will buy 7,690 new planes worth US$1.2 trillion over the next two decades to keep pace with booming consumer and business demand for air travel, Boeing Co said yesterday, raising a previous forecast.

The US plane maker’s latest estimate for the period to 2037 is 6.2 percent higher than its previous prediction of 7,240 planes until 2036 made last year.

As the world’s only trillion-dollar airplane market, China is expected to create a market of US$2.7 trillion from new aircraft purchasing and aviation service sectors over the next 20 years, said Boeing in its new Commercial Market Outlook for China.

Boeing also predicted that China will account for 18 percent of the world’s commercial airplane fleet by 2037, up from 15 percent now, and forecast the country will need over US$1.5 trillion in commercial services to support its fleet.

“China is the most exciting and dynamic market in the world. The continuous growth in its economy and middle class sustains the country’s upward civil aviation market,” said Randy Tinseth, vice president of commercial marketing for the Boeing Company.

“Alongside the economic empowerment of China’s middle class and the advancing technology making airplanes more capable and efficient, we are confident in the future of its commercial aviation,” Tinseth said.

Three quarters of the 7,690 plane orders over the next 20 years will likely be for single-aisle aircraft while China’s widebody fleet will require 1,620 new planes, tripling the country’s current widebody fleet size, it added.

Because China has the world’s fastest growing e-commerce industry, demand for air-cargo freighters is also expected to expand exponentially, according to Tinseth.

“Besides the expansion fleet, it is also very impressive that China keeps focusing on its aviation safety and creating the best safety record worldwide,” said Tinseth, adding that the aviation services market in China is promising.

By the end of 2017, China had a civil fleet of 3,296 aircraft, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.

At the end of the year, Boeing delivered a record high of 202 airplanes to the Chinese market, representing about 30 percent of its global deliveries and its sixth straight year of delivering over 140 airplanes to the market.

To date, around 9,000 Boeing commercial airplanes in-service around the world are assembled with parts which are made in China.

Boeing and its European rival Airbus have been jostling to increase market share in China with both opening assembly plants in the country.