Australasia to need 700 new planes
Airlines in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific will need more than 700 new aircraft over the next 20 years, according to Airbus. In its latest Global Market Forecast (GMF), the European planemaker predicted that from 2011 to 2030 the region’s carrier would require 736 new passenger and freighter aircraft of more than 100 seats, valued at US$98 billion.
The news follows Qantas’ recent decision to purchase 110 new Airbus A320 aircraft, as it expands its reach into the fast-growing Asian market. Airbus confirmed in its forecast that the Australasian region’s “close links to emerging economies are the main contributor to traffic growth”. It added that low-cost carriers will drive regional growth, increasing their market share to approximately 35% by 2030.
Of the 736 new aircraft require, the majority (468) will be single-aisle jets such as the A320 or Boeing 737. A further 211 will be twin-aisle aircraft such as the next new A350XWB or B787 Dreamliner, and 57 will very large aircraft (VLA) such as the A380.
The vast majority (731) will be passenger aircraft, of which 380 will be for fleet expansion purposes and 349 for replacing older models. In the next 20 years, the region’s passenger fleet will almost double from some 400 aircraft today to more than 780 by 2030, according to Airbus.
“More people want to fly! Load-factors will continue to rise. Add to this higher fuel costs and infrastructure which cannot keep pace with growing demand, then larger more fuel efficient aircraft are the only sensible choice, and this is confirmed by our latest Global Market Forecast,” said John Leahy, Airbus’ Chief Operating Officer for Customers. “The long-term market appetite for high capacity, high productivity aircraft like the A380 remains healthy,” he added.
In terms of growth markets, traffic between Australasia and China is expected to increase 6.2%, along with a 5.6% increase to India and 5.7% growth to the rest of Asia. This is faster than the world average aviation growth of 4.8%.
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