Japan needs to buy some 660 aircraft, amounting to $92 billion, during the coming 20 years to meet growing passenger demand, Airbus Industrie said Thursday.
Adam Brown, Airbus Industrie vice president in charge of forecasting and strategic planning, predicted that despite the relative maturity of the Japanese market, total passenger demand will grow an average 5.3 percent annually between 1999 and 2018, exceeding the estimated world growth average of 5 percent.
During the 20-year period, Japanese carriers will need to replace about 400 aircraft with new airplanes and add 260 more to cope with the expected growth in passenger demand, Brown said. In 1998, Japanese carriers had 397 aircraft.
Brown also noted that, out of some 660 aircraft, about 170 will be large jetliners with more than 400 seats to meet greater passenger demand and cope with congestion both in the air and at Japanese airports.
Japan, the largest aircraft market as a single country in the Asia-Oceania region, is expected to account for about 15 percent of the region's market over the 20-year period.
Meanwhile, the European consortium expects that overall passenger traffic in the region will grow by an average of 6.1 percent annually.
Airbus Industrie, based in Toulouse, France, is a multinational joint venture consisting of Aerospatiale Matra-Airbus of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace Airbus of Germany, British Aerospace and CASA of Spain.