European planemaker Airbus says it is the dominant aircraft supplier there, winning 80 percent of all new business in the Asia-Pacific region last year.
At the Singapore Airshow, Airbus bosses said they were optimistic about more orders, despite worries about the economies of emerging markets, many of which are located there.
Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier told reporters: “With an average increase in passenger traffic of six percent per year for the entire region for the next 20 years, and I believe this is pessimistic, I believe this region will grow even faster because year on year, our predictions are getting higher.”
The European planemaker said that in 2013 it received 379 firm orders from the Asia-Pacific region.
It also delivered 331 new aircraft, or over half of all new planes that entered into service with the region’s airlines.
In Singapore, Airbus has been showing off the new A350, the first of which is due to be delivered by the end of this year to Qatar Airways
Nearly a nearly a third of the orders for the plane – its rival to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner – are from the Asia-Pacific region.
