BOEING: ASIA PACIFIC TO BE LARGEST AVIATION MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Boeing forecasts that the Asia Pacific region will rank as the world's largest aviation market over the next 20 years, requiring 8,960 new commercial jets valued at approximately US$1.1 trillion.

Asia Pacific is the largest market in the forecast for new airplanes in
terms of both units required and market value.

" Twenty years from now more than 40 per cent of the world's airline traffic
will begin, end or take place within the Asia Pacific region," said Boeing
Commercial Airplanes Vice President - Marketing, Randy Tinseth.

"That's a big leap for a region that was not even mentioned in our earliest
Boeing market forecasts back in the 1950s," he said in a statement issued from
Hong Kong Wednesday.

Tinseth said between now and 2028, Asia Pacific air travel will grow from 32
per cent of the world market to 41 per cent.

The Asia Pacific region covers a broad area including Japan, South Korea,
China, Australia and India and currently accounts for more than 8,300 flights
and 1.2 million travellers daily.

In less than 10 years, it will be the largest air travel market in the
world, according to the Boeing outlook released today in Hong Kong.

Travel in the region is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 6.5
per cent over the next 20 years.

"This is clearly a difficult time in the aviation market, and today's
challenges are reflected in the Boeing forecast, but we do expect the growing
Asia markets to lead the industry into recovery," said Tinseth.

Strong domestic growth in China, India and other emerging Asian nations will
contribute to high demand for single-aisle airplanes.

Over the 20-year forecast period, more than half of the deliveries, some
5,600, will be single-aisles. With just 330 deliveries, the percentage of the
fleet's large category will decrease from 10 to 4 per cent as airlines switch to
more efficient mid-size twins and even larger single-aisle jets.

Airlines in the Asia Pacific region will take delivery of 2,590 twin-aisle
airplanes. Regional jet deliveries will total 440.

The Asia Pacific fleet will nearly triple from 3,910 to a total of 11,170
airplanes.

More than 80 per cent of this demand will be for growth. Delivery of new,
more fuel-efficient airplanes ensures the region's fleets will remain among the
youngest in the world.

Boeing's projection also shows the Asia Pacific region as a growth leader in
the long-term global air cargo market, with routes within China, within Asia and
those connecting Asia to other regions outpacing the global average growth
annual rate of 5.4 per cent over the next 20 years.

"Despite an unprecedented contraction during 2008 and 2009, we remain
confident in the strength of the global air cargo market over the long haul,"
said Jim Edgar, regional director, Cargo Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"The air cargo industry is supported by sound fundamentals -- the imperative
for speed, consumer product innovation and global industrial interdependence are
key drivers -- as well as global GDP projections of about 3 per cent annual
growth."

Asian carriers will add about 750 freighters to the region's fleet to
accommodate growth and airplane retirements, about 27 per cent of the world
requirement - second only to the more mature but slower growing North America
market.

-- BERNAMA