Airbus sees strong Asian orders, but not until 2012. Right now, there is too much capacity

Airbus has released its Asia Pacific aircraft orders forecast for the next 20-years, showing demand for some 8,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft valued at USD1.2 trillion. But with massive near-term deliveries, spare capacity on the ground, lower utilisation rates of the existing fleet and fragile earnings, Asia Pacific airlines are already flush with capacity and balance sheets are fragile. The last thing they need now is more capacity.