Dow Jones Newswires | The market for new commercial jet planes
is forecast at some $3.2 trillion over the next 20 years, while the
global fleet will add around 29,000 new passenger and freight planes
over the same period, a Boeing Co. executive said Tuesday.

According to the U.S. aerospace giant, as the world recovers from its
worst economic slump in decades, airlines’ profits are set to improve
in 2011 and plane sales are to expand in 2012. If Boeing’s projections hold up, the global fleet of commercial
passenger and freight planes will have practically doubled by 2028.

The vast majority of commercial planes expected to be sold over the next 20 years will be single aisle, some 90 seats and above, and double aisle, between 200 and 400 seats, Drew Magill, Boeing’s regional marketing director, said at the 16th Santiago Air and Space Show, known locally as the Fidae.

Meanwhile, Latin America’s fleet is expected to double over the next two decades by adding 1,640 new planes, of which more than three-fourths will be single-aisle planes, for a $150 billion price tag.

“In Latin America air traffic is projected to double over the next 10 years,” Magill said, adding that the number of passengers in the region is growing nearly 30 percent faster than the global average.

Over the last few years, airlines in Latin America fared much better than their counterparts elsewhere.

Also, LAN Airlines, Latin America’s largest carrier by revenue, ordered 32 of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners, and will receive them between the first half of 2011 and 2013, Magill said.

Boeing has spent billions of dollars developing its new long-range 787 Dreamliner, considered the most sophisticated commercial airplane ever built, although the project is three years late and far over budget.