BOEING: CHINA NEEDS 7,240 NEW PLANES BY 2036
Boeing plans first factory in country as it reinforces position amid Airbus rivalry
BEIJING investment in infrastructure support our long-term outlook” with the proliferation of secondary airports expected to add to this growth, said Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice-president of marketing.
The firm last year predicted China would order 6,810 planes in the next two decades and cited an improving economy, expansion of local airlines and a recovering cargo market for its increased outlook.
Air traffic in China has increased as new low-cost carriers pop up and Boeing expects the middle class to double in ten years to reach 600 million people.
This prosperous group, who want to travel to increasingly long-haul destinations, are predicted to fuel a rise in sales of high-capacity planes.
But the single-aisle jets used for regional flights are forecast to stay at the heart of the China’s demand for new planes, comprising an estimated 75 per cent of orders.
Chinese carriers now operated more than half the international flights in and out of China, challenging the previous domination of long-haul routes by foreign businesses, said Tinseth.
Home-grown Hainan Airlines announced in May it would buy 19 Boeing aircraft for an estimated US$4.2 billion, including 13 longhaul B787-9 “Dreamliners”.
The Chinese aerospace market is split almost equally between Boeing and Airbus.
Unlike Airbus, which since 2008 has boasted an assembly line for the A320 passenger jet in Tianjin, Boeing does not yet have a factory in China.
But it was working with stateowned manufacturer Comac to open a “completions centre” next year in Zhoushan, with the capacity to fit interiors in more than 100 of its popular mid-range B737 each year, Tinseth confirmed.
However, that partnership could prove turbulent.
The Chinese firm this year oversaw the test flight of its first home-built mid-range carrier, the C919 — ostensibly a rival to the B737, with the aim of breaking the US-European duopoly. AFP