Mideast demand to grow for Boeing freighters

Boeing expects the Middle East to be its second largest market for large freight aircraft after Asia-Pacific in terms of value over the next 20 years, said a senior official of the Seattle-based aircraft major yesterday.

Speaking to Emirates Business, Randy Tinseth, Boeing's Vice-President (Marketing), Commercial Airplanes, said: "The largest market for Boeing's freighters is the US and North American region in terms of units sold, because of the presence of large players such as FedEx and UPS. But in the US and North America, most freighter orders are for small aircraft or package carriers.

"The biggest market in terms of value over the next 20 years will be Asia-Pacific, followed by the Middle East. These two markets will see the maximum demand for new big freighters. In the next 20 years, we see a demand for about 1,700 airplanes in the Middle East, out of which about 150 will be freighter aircraft."

Boeing's large freighters are models such as B-777s and the B-747-8s, he said.

The air cargo market today is in a very bad shape, said Tinseth. "We expect global freighter traffic will have contracted between 15 and 17 per cent in 2009, [whereas] in 2008 we saw a six per cent reduction in traffic. But we're starting to see some improvement both in terms of traffic as well as yields, and we expect to see that holding up over the next three to six months," he said.

The Middle East cargo sector, too, had to bear the brunt, he added.

"We've seen a slow down in orders in all segments, especially in the cargo market. Over the past few years, a number of freighter aircraft had to be parked in the region because of the decline in traffic. Airlines will start placing orders for freighters again once they start to see an increase in traffic, as well as improvement in terms of profitability. In 2010, we're going to see a recovery in the economy and airlines will become profitable again, so in 2012 we'll see an increase in orders," said Tinseth.

Globally, Boeing expects air cargo traffic to grow an average of 5.4 per cent per year within the next 20 years, driven by rising world GDP and the reliance of the global industry on fast delivery and international production. According to its market outlook for 2009-2028, air cargo will be kept affordable.

 

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