China is world’s fastest-growing aviation market, says Boeing

Boeing Company, the aircraft-manufacturing giant based in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, has described China as the “fastest-growing aviation market in the world.”

In its 2008 Current Market Outlook report, released on October 29, 2008, Boeing Company said that it expects China to be the fastest-growing aviation market over the next 20 years, making it second only to North America in terms of overall demand.

According to Boeing, China will need 3,710 aircraft – three times the number of its existing fleet – by 2027, valued at about US $390 billion.

Randy Tinseth, vice-president of marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement accompanying the company’s annual market outlook: “The unprecedented demand for air travel and cargo will see China’s fleet grow to 4,560 planes by 2027, roughly the same size as Europe’s fleet. China will continue to be the fastest-growing aviation centre in the world, requiring 41% of the entire demand for aircraft in the Asia-Pacific region. This makes China the largest market outside of the United States for new commercial airplanes.”

The company’s 2008 Current Market Outlook report noted that, for China, single-aisle airplanes will lead the demand – accounting for 70% of the new purchases, or 2,600 planes – “as the country adjusts to its fast-growing domestic market.”

Boeing said China’s cargo markets lead the global industry and predicted that Chinese air carriers would add about 370 freighter airplanes by 2027, quadrupling its total freighter fleet size.

The demand for larger aircraft to connect to China with other major world destinations would be limited to about 100 planes. The company anticipates that the demand for intermediate twin-aisle planes would be around 780 airplane orders.

Boeing said it expect that there will be a demand for 29,400 new commercial planes worldwide by 2027, valued at about US$ 3.2-trillion.

“The combined single-aisle and twin-aisle market,” Boeing’s 2008 Current Market Outlook report continued, “would represent 91% of the 390-billion-dollar market,” referring to Boeing’s single-aisle Next-Generation 737 aircraft and its twin-aisle plane, the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Boeing 777.

The Boeing Company, originally founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington, the United States, has expanded over the years. It merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The company’s international headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, since 2001. Boeing is the largest global manufacturer of aircraft by revenue, orders and deliveries; the second largest aerospace and defence contractor in the world; and the largest exporter in the United States.