Boeing raises forecast for China by 15%

Boeing Co. raised its 20-year forecast for commercial-aircraft demand in China by 15 per cent as rising wages spur travel in the world's fastest-growing aviation market. The country will need 5,000 new planes with a value of $600 billion (Dh2.2 trillion) through 2030, according to an annual forecast, the Chicago-based company released yesterday in Beijing.Last year it said China would need 4,330 new planes with a value of $480 billion over 20 years. Small and medium-sized twin-aisle planes will make up more than 40 per cent of the total, the planemaker said. China's commercial fleet will more than triple to 5,930 planes in the period, Boeing said, as economic growth above nine per cent a year makes holidays and business trips affordable to more people. That demand has prompted the nation to form a state-backed planemaker to challenge Boeing and Airbus's stranglehold on the global single-aisle aircraft market. "Boeing expects strong, long-term growth in the China market in the next 20 years," said marketing vice president Randy Tinseth. From / Gulf News