Latin America fleet size to double: Airbus

Latin America’s commercial aircraft fleet will double in size over the next 20 years, and 2,570 new aircraft will be needed to satisfy traffic growth, according to Airbus. The Airbus Global Market Forecast predicts 2,030 single-aisle and 540 wide-body aircraft will be needed at a cost of US$350b. The numbers are based on traffic growing at 4.5% per year, the world average, until 2035. Traffic is predicted to grow by 4.9% on Latin America’s domestic and intra-regional routes, and 3.8% to destinations outside the region. The continuing rise in middle class spending will play an important part in the growth, with that section of the population growing to half a billion people by 2035. “There’s no doubt that solid long-term growth is in store for Latin America, and we see single-aisle aircraft leading the demand,” Airbus’s Latin America president Rafael Alonso said. He said that low cost carriers will have an impact on market dynamics, especially in domestic and intra-regional travel. “Looking ahead, we also see a good opportunity for the region’s carriers to be more bullish on developing intra-regional routes, a space in which Latin America is less developed than other regions,” Alonso added.<br/>