=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2007/06/13/financial/= f103257D94.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, June 14, 2007 (AP) Boeing: $2.8 Trillion Market for Jets By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, AP Business Writer (06-14) 02:39 PDT Seattle (AP) -- Boeing Co. boosted its 20-year market projections for new commercial jets to $2.8 trillion on Wednesday, up about $200 billion from its forecast last year, citing a growing demand for regional, single-aisle and twin-aisle jets that airlines want for nonstop routes. Boeing lowered its market forecast for jumbo jets, saying airlines are increasingly turning to smaller, more fuel-efficient planes that will fly passengers directly where they want to go, bypassing layovers at hubs. Airlines will spend less and make more money by offering more frequent nonstop flights, because passengers have shown they're willing to pay more for the convenience of flying straight to their destination, Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing's Seattle-based commercial airplane division, said in a conference call with reporters about the company's 2007 Current Market Outlook report. Nonstop flights also cost airlines less and are more environmentally friendly because planes burn less fuel and produce fewer emissions with only one takeoff and landing per flight, Tinseth said. "Airlines are responding to the true needs of passengers to save more ti= me on more capable aircraft," Tinseth said. "Airlines have accommodated air travel by adding more frequencies and nonstops, and what's most important for us is that we've seen this trend for the last 20 to 25 years, and we expect this trend to continue into the future." All told, Chicago-based Boeing projects airlines will buy 28,600 new passenger and cargo planes over the next two decades, including: _17,650 single-aisle airplanes seating 90 to 240 passengers, up from 16,540 planes seating 100 to 240 in last year's forecast. _6,290 twin-aisle jets seating 200 to 400 passengers, up from 6,230 forecast last year. _3,700 regional jets with no more than 90 seats, up from 3,450 forecast last year. _And 960 jumbo jets seating more than 400 passengers, down from 990 in i= ts 2006 market outlook. The new planes will meet an estimated 5 percent annual increase in passenger traffic and a 6.1 percent rise in yearly air cargo traffic, Boeing said. Boeing said about one-third of the demand for new planes will come from the Asia-Pacific region, followed by North America, which will account for about one-quarter of worldwide demand. Single-aisle planes such as Boeing's 737 and rival Airbus SAS's A320s wi= ll continue to be the market's best-sellers, driven by brisk growth among low-cost carriers. But Boeing expects to make more money from sales of larger twin-aisle je= ts such as its 777 and new 787, which is scheduled to enter commercial service next May, about five years ahead of when Airbus plans to begin delivering its competing A350 XWB. Boeing projects much weaker demand for jumbo jets than Airbus, which has invested heavily in its 555-seat A380. That plane is scheduled to enter commercial service in October, after delays caused by production snags that wiped more than $6 billion off the company's profit forecast for 2006-2010. In Airbus' most recent market forecast, released last fall, the European aircraft maker projected airlines will buy more than 1,200 passenger jumbo jets over the next two decades. Airbus spokesman Clay McConnell argued that the difference between the t= wo companies' forecasts is slight. He said Airbus anticipates strong demand for point-to-point travel as well as routes that go through hubs, which will be a mainstay for the A380 and Boeing's 747. McConnell also questioned the premise behind Boeing's argument that flyi= ng smaller planes will help airlines save money. "Generally ... smaller planes are less efficient because you're flying fewer people in the same airframe," McConnell said. Like Boeing, Airbus expects brisk demand for twin-aisle planes that fly long distances over the next 20 years, but projects airlines will buy about 1,000 fewer of them than Boeing predicts. Airbus has only 13 firm orders for the A350, which it had to redesign after airlines snubbed its first blueprint for the aircraft. Boeing, by comparison, has won 584 orders for the 787. Nevertheless, McConnell said Airbus feels it's in a strong position to compete, noting that customers ordering a 787 today won't get it delivered until 2013, the year the A350 is scheduled to enter service. "From this point on, there's no longer any advantage to the airplane bei= ng first," McConnell said in an interview earlier this week. Airbus recently said it will produce 13 A350s per month by 2016. Tinseth sounded incredulous. "Right now, they're in a position where I don't know if they know what the cross-section of the airplane is, I don't know if they know how long the airplane is, I don't know if they know how far the airplane can fly, and I don't know if they know how they're going to build it, but I find it interesting that they know how many they can produce per month," Tinseth said Wednesday. Boeing has not said how many 787s it will produce per month, only that it expects final assembly to take an average of six days per plane in the beginning and that it will deliver 112 of them in 2008 and 2009. Boeing shares rose $1.99, or 2 percent, to $98.47 in trading Wednesday. = ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2007 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".