Hit by poor sales in the US and Europe, aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing want to ride on the rapid traffic growth in the Asia-Pacific region, where more than 315 aircraft are expected to be delivered over the next five years, officials say.
A dramatic recovery in passenger and cargo traffic in the Asia-Pacific region after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US may propel the region to become the biggest market for aircraft sales even before the target date of 2020 for achieving that goal, Airbus chief commercial officer John Leahy said.
At present, the Asia-Pacific region is the third largest aircraft sales market after dominant player North America and second-ranking Western Europe.
Aviation experts had forecast that the region, based on its rapid traffic expansion, will overtake North America as the top player in 18 years.
"As this is being playing out, the crisis that we have just seen seems to be accelerating that process, where we see the Asia-Pacific market already recovering from 9/11 and resuming its very strong growth rate," Leahy said on the sidelines of a weekend meeting here of chief executives of 17 leading airlines in the region.
The meeting was held under the ambit of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA), which said in a report that its members were planning to take delivery of 315 aircraft over the next five years.
The orders and options placed by AAPA members are about 70 percent for the American Boeing aircraft and the remaining for Europe's Airbus.
The two manufacturers are aggressively marketing their products in the region as they strive to overcome the worst downturn in their business.
Leahy said that while Asian airlines had largely restored their levels of profitability after the Sept. 11 crisis, "some airlines in the United States are still losing five, six, seven million dollars a day. "So from a manufacturer's point of view, we see that the spotlight is now moving on to the Asia-Pacific region."
Airbus is negotiating with at least three Asian airlines to sell its new giant A380 plane, Leahy said.
Singapore Airlines will be the first carrier to operate the A380 aircraft, which will have variants to carry passengers and cargo, with deliveries scheduled from the first quarter of 2006.
Airbus Asia spokesman Anthony Phillips said rapid traffic growth would see the Asia-Pacific region being the single largest market globally for aircraft with more than 400 seats such as the flagship 555-seat A380.
In value terms, Airbus estimates the total market value for new aircraft in the region at nearly US$500 billion up to 2020, Phillips said. Boeing opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur recently to enhance operations.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats