Plane-Maker Cites 20-Year Demand for 8,560 Commercial Jets

Boeing posits China—driven by economic growth exceeding the global average and a population at once increasingly affluent and desirous of domestic air travel—will require some 8,560 new commercial airplanes through 2042—year of the water dog.

Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), the plane-maker’s long-term forecast vis-à-vis demand for commercial airplanes and related services, sets forth China's commercial airliner fleet will more than double over the coming twenty-years, reaching a kingly total of nearly 9,600 jets.

Over the years spanning 2023 through 2042, China, according to Boeing, will account for one-fifth of global deliveries of transport category aircraft. By the end of the cited forecast period, China's domestic aviation market will be the world’s largest, occasioning demand for upwards of 6,470 single-aisle jets—the likes of Boeing’s 737 MAX family.  

Boeing vice-president of Commercial Marketing Darren Hulst stated: "Domestic air traffic in China has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels and international traffic is recovering steadily. As China's economy and traffic continue to grow, Boeing's complete line-up of commercial jets will play a key role in helping meet that growth sustainably and economically."

Boeing’s 2023 CMO projects China, through 2042, will require: 1,550 wide-body airplanes supporting a growing network of international routes; 190 new freighter aircraft; 433,000 new aviation personnel comprising 134,000 pilots, 138,000 technicians and 161,000 cabin crew members; and $675 billion in aviation services, including maintenance, repair, training, and spare parts.

2023 marks the 50th year of Boeing’s business relationship with China. In 1972, the country’s communist regime ordered ten 707 jets for purpose of modernizing the Middle Kingdom’s fleet of commercial aircraft. The following year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) took delivery of the nations’ first 707. In 2023, Boeing aircraft constitute the mainstay of China’s air travel and cargo systems.

FMI: www.boeing.com/commercial/market/commercial-market-outlook