China will require 4700 new aircraft over 20 years: COMAC

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) chief accountant Tian Min said the state-owned aircraft manufacturer expects to receive orders for 30 to 50 of its C919 aircraft next month, according to a Yicai report. Mr Tian stated COMAC forecasts China will require 4700 new aircraft over the next 20 years, accounting for 15% of the global aircraft requirements. COMAC Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute's market research director Dang Tiehong added the manufacturer hopes to have a 30% share of China's new aircraft requirements and the company will have 1500 of its ARJ and C919 aircrafts in operation in China in 20 years. The C919 aircraft will undertake its first flight in 2014 and be delivered to its first customer in 2016.

Meanwhile, COMAC also forecasts global passenger traffic (RPKs) will increase at a rate of 4.9% p/a over the next 20 years with passenger traffic to be more than 2.5 times more than now and global fleet size will reach 36,000 by 2030 - a doubling of the current 17,600, according to CAAC-News. COMAC said China's fleet size as a percentage of the global fleet size will increase from 9% to 15% by 2030.