Airlines in Southeast Asia are forecast to spend US$330 billion to acquire more than 2,100 new aircraft over the next two decades, primarily to support the growth in air travel demand within and through the region.Southeast Asia will be one of the high-growth markets for plane makers like the US-based Boeing, which sees carriers around the world requiring 29,000 new airplanes from now through 2028, costing them US$3.2 trillion.
A total of 1,670 new aircraft that airlines in Southeast Asia, including Thai Airways International, would order in the 20-year span would represent incremental capacity additions and 490 would be replacements of older units.
Airlines in the 10-member Asean bloc would also likely to retain 440 aircraft during the 2009-28 period.
About 52% of the new aircraft which the region needs over the period will be single-aisle units, 40% twin-aisle, 7% large and 1% in the small “regional” category.
Randy Tinseth, vice-president for marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said that Southeast Asia and the overall Asia-Pacific region appeared poised to lead the growth in air travel over the next two decades with an annual growth rate of 6.9%, exceeding the world’s average of 4.9% per year.
