Latin American airlines set for growth

Boeing this week forecast that Latin American airlines will need 1,730 airplanes worth $120bn over the next 20 years.

According to Boeing, air travel within Latin America will grow 6.6 percent during this period, well above the world average growth of five percent and second only to China's 8.8 percent forecasted growth rate.

‘What our analysis shows is Latin America's rich aviation history will continue with robust, above-average growth,’ said Michael Barnett, Boeing's director of Marketing for Latin America, who presented the analysis at the Latin America Airfinance Conference in Rio de Janeiro on September 24.

Deliveries to airlines in Latin America will represent approximately four percent of the deliveries measured by dollar value worldwide between 2006 and 2025.

Over the next 20 years, deliveries of new airplanes in Latin American will consist of: eight percent regional jets (less than 90 seats); 80 percent single-aisle airplanes (90 seats and above); 12 percent twin-aisle airplanes (200-400 seats, tri-class); and less than one percent airplanes 747-size or larger.

Combined with the retained fleet and used airplane acquisitions, these new deliveries will result in a Latin America commercial airplane fleet of over 2, 420 airplanes by 2026.

The Boeing Latin America Current Market Outlook projects that single-aisle and twin-aisle airplanes in the 100 to 350-seat categories will account for almost all of the regional growth in air travel over the next 20 years.

Worldwide, Boeing forecasts a $2.8tn market for new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years and projects a need for approximately 28,600 new commercial airplanes (passenger and freighter), doubling the world fleet by 2026. The vast majority of these new airplanes will be in the single-aisle and twin-aisle categories.