Boeing forecasts Southeast Asia passenger air traffic to more than triple over the next 20 years, driven by above global average economic growth and a rising middle class. The region’s airplane fleet is also projected to more than triple to 4,960 jets to meet the rising air travel demand, according to Boeing’s 2024 Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), the company’s long-term demand forecast for commercial airplanes and services.
Through 2043, passenger air traffic in Southeast Asia will grow 7.2% annually – well above the 4.7% average annual growth rate globally – according to the CMO.
“With Southeast Asia’s economy forecast to have the second-highest growth rate among global regions, rising household incomes will bring new consumers into this aviation market, fueling growth for low cost and leisure business models,” said David Schulte, managing director of Boeing Commercial Marketing for Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
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“Southeast Asia’s growing fleet – especially single-aisle airplanes – will play an important role in further connecting the region’s island geography and serving travel demand across the Asia-Pacific region, particularly routes to China and Northeast Asia,” Schulte said.
Through 2043, Boeing also forecasts:
- Airlines in Southeast Asia will expand their share of the Asia-Pacific fleet from 17% to 25%.
- To meet long-haul demand, widebodies like the 787 Dreamliner will make up one in five deliveries in Southeast Asia.
- The region will need more than 120 new and converted freighters to support increasingly diversified global supply chains as well as growing e-commerce demand.
- Southeast Asia operators will need to hire and train 234,000 new pilots, maintenance technicians and cabin crew – more than tripling the region’s active personnel.
Southeast Asia’s commercial aviation industry continues to focus on improving sustainability. Nearly 1,200 new, more fuel-efficient airplanes will replace aging jets in the region over the next 20 years. Also, as global aviation aims to achieve net-zero by 2050, this region’s available bio-based feedstocks can supply approximately 12% of global sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demand, according to the Boeing-supported SAF feedstock assessment.
New deliveries in Southeast Asia (2024-2043)
| Regional Jet | 20 |
| Single Aisle | 3,765 |
| Widebody | 920 |
| Freighter | 15 |
| Total | 4,720 |
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