Airbus sees 20-year, $183b demand for aircraft in Germany

PARIS (REUTERS) - Airbus sees demand from Germany for more than 1,000 new passenger aircraft and freighters over the next two decades, worth US$148 billion (S$183 billion), as German air travel is growing, the planemaker said on the opening day of the ILA Berlin Air Show on Tuesday.

The figures were part of the planemaker's global market forecast which also predicted average annual traffic growth of 4.1 per cent for Europe in the period while routes to the Middle East should rise 5.4 per cent and Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America together could grow 4.6 per cent.

For Germany, new passenger and freight aircraft will include 690 single-aisle jetliners, more than 230 twin-aisle medium to long-range wide-body planes and close to 100 very large airliners such as the A380, Airbus said in a statement.

"German airlines will take more aircraft than any other European country and globally is one the top five countries,"said Mr Chris Emerson, SVP Future Programmes and Market Strategy.