Airbus A320 airplane takes off from Ronald Reagan National Airport 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 Tuesday. 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 (3.3 trillion euros).\"
Airbus said almost all the new required planes, about 28,350, would be passenger aircraft valued at $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.
\"The attraction of air travel means that passenger numbers will more than double from today\'s 2.9 billion, to 6.7 billion by 2032, clearly demonstrating aviation\'s essential role in economic growth,\" he added in the report.
Last year, Airbus had predicted that about 28,200 passenger and cargo aircraft would be sold by the sector between 2012 and 2031.
Source: AFP