adminLONDON. – Airbus predicts that the world will need more than 29 000 new commercial planes over the next 20 years to respond to higher traffic and replace older models, the European planemaker said yesterday.
Delivering its 20-year outlook, Airbus said air travel through 2032 will be fuelled by traffic to and from emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India.
To meet this challenge, Airbus and its rivals – notably US giant Boeing – will need to produce thousands more planes, the bulk of which will be single-aisle passenger carriers.
“As aviation becomes increasingly accessible in all parts of the world, future journeys will increasingly be made by air particularly to and from emerging markets,” Airbus said in its Global Market Forecast, which it produces every year.
“Air traffic will grow at 4,7 percent annually requiring over 29 220 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at nearly US$4,4 trillion.”
Airbus said almost all the new required planes, about 28 350, would be passenger aircraft valued at US$4,1 trillion. It added that by 2032, Asia-Pacific would lead the world in air traffic, overtaking Europe and North America.
“Today on average, a fifth of the population of the emerging markets take a flight annually and by 2032, this will swell to two thirds,” said John Leahy, chief operating officer at Airbus. – AFP.
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