Boeing says China to buy planes worth US$1t over next 20 years

[BEIJING] Chinese airlines are likely to purchase 6,810 planes worth US$1.025 trillion in the next 20 years as they expand fleets to cater to robust growth in domestic and overseas tourism, Boeing Co forecast on Tuesday.

The latest estimate of 6,810 planes is 7.6 per cent higher than the 6,330 aircraft predicted last year.

"The continuing expansion of China's middle class, coupled with new visa policies and a wide range of widebody airplanes... gives us every reason to expect a very bright future for China's long-haul market," Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes'vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

He also said that he expects passenger traffic to grow 6.4 per cent in China annually over the next 20 years.

Boeing has stayed bullish on China even as other US companies have expressed concern over the country's slower economic growth. A senior Boeing executive said in August that the plane maker was not seeing any softness in demand in China.

REUTERS