Boeing and Airbus differ on Asia-Pacific wide-body demand

GLOBAL aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus agree on Asia-Pacific`s significant growth and prominence in global airline traffic but disagree on the percentage of wide body aircraft making up the size of the fleets which they believe will carry 40 per cent of global airline traffic by 2030.
"To meet this demand," said Airbus COO John Leahy, "larger aircraft will be needed to ease congestion and do more with less. This will see airlines from the region account for more than 50 per cent of the demand for very large aircraft, such as the A380."
But Boeing vice president Randy Tinseth said the region would absorb 40 per cent of the world`s airline traffic involving an investment by Asia-Pacific carriers of US$1 trillion over 20 years, reported Newark`s Journal of Commerce. "That`s a big leap for a region that was not even mentioned in our earliest Boeing market forecasts back in the 1950s," he said.
The strength of the region seen in domestic growth surges including that of China and India will increase global fleet from 3,910 to a total of 11,170 airplanes in comparison.