Airbus paints upbeat outlook for Asia Pacific

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Asia Pacific region will become the core market for the world's top aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, over the next five to ten years, replacing the European market as the company's top source of orders, an Airbus executive said on Thursday.

Anthony Phillips, Airbus regional communications representative, told The Jakarta Post that at the moment there were 690 Airbus passenger aircraft of various types being operated by 48 airlines in Asia Pacific.

A total of 975 aircraft -- both passenger and non-passenger -- were being operated in the region.

"Based on a positive outlook for the aircraft industry, Asia Pacific will soon be the largest air transport center in the world, led by countries with large populations such as China and India, as well as Indonesia," Phillips told The Jakarta Post.

Airbus customer marketing director Cronan Enright added that the biggest customer for Airbus in Asia Pacific was China with more than 100 aircraft.

As for Indonesia, Enright went on, the market was growing rapidly. There were about 23 million passengers out of a population of 220 million traveling by air in the country annually, as compared to 45 million passengers out of a population of one billion in India.

However, the company had not sold many new aircraft here -- six A330 aircraft to Garuda Indonesia, and one A300 and two A310s to Air Paradise. Nevertheless, Enright was upbeat that the country would become an important market for Airbus over the next five years.

"Airlines are used to purchasing second-hand aircraft, on lease mostly. However, given the high fuel and maintenance costs associated with older aircraft, customers are likely to start purchasing new aircraft with lower operating costs," he explained.

Asked about pricing, he said that the A320, one of the firm's most popular products, carried a price tag of between US$40 million and $60 million, while the newly launched A380 cost $240 million.

Referring to trends in aircraft manufacturing, Phillips said that Airbus was optimistic as given expected global air traffic growth of five percent on average per annum up to 2023, 17,000 new aircraft would be needed worldwide.

"It will not just be Airbus, but all aircraft with capacities of between 100 and 550 passengers," Phillips told The Post. (004)