China four-fold aircraft increase by 2028

China will need almost 4,000 new passenger planes in the next 20 years, nearly quadrupling the size of its fleet, a leading state-owned aircraft maker said yesterday.
China would need 3,796 new aircraft by 2028 to keep up with fast-growing domestic demand for air travel, said Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) in its annual forecast on the nation’s civil aviation market.
AVIC said China had 1,191 passenger planes at the end of 2008.
The additional planes would increase China’s passenger fleet to 4,233, with more than 700 new planes to replace retiring aircraft, AVIC said.
“Aircraft with about 150 seats, regional planes and cargo planes are going to be focuses of future development,” Wang Boxue, a senior researcher at AVIC, said at a news conference at the China Aviation Expo.
China’s cargo fleet was expected to increase nearly nine-fold to 583 units, compared with 68 at the end of last year, AVIC said.
AVIC’s estimate echoed a similar forecast from US aviation giant Boeing, which last week said China would require 3,770 new commercial aircraft valued at 400 billion dollars by 2028.