Airbus expects 36 per cent of these new deliveries to replace existing aircraft with the rest slated to meet growth in demand, with traffic expected roughly to double over the next 15 years.
Airbus however trimmed its forecast for average traffic growth to 4.3 per cent a year from 4.4 per cent in its previous report. “Increased protectionism and other geopolitical risks remain a concern,” Airbus said in its Global Market Forecast.Addressing an increasingly vocal debate on emissions, in a week that Swedish teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg pressed the U.S. Congress for action on climate change, Airbus said the industry could still achieve carbon-neutral growth while connecting more people due to more efficient planes.
Airbus revised up its demand forecast for the industry’s most-sold single-aisle jets by 4 per cent to 29,720 planes but cut the medium segment including its A330neo by 2 per cent to 5,370.It followed U.S. rival Boeing in scrapping separate forecasts for the world’s largest four-engined aircraft such as the Airbus A380 or Boeing 747. Airbus decided in February halt production of the double-decker A380 due to weak demand.