DUBAI: Airbus shaved its forecast for airplane demand by 0.5 percent compared with pre-pandemic projections on Saturday, offset by a brighter outlook for freighters as the world’s largest jetmakers fight for inaugural sales of large new cargo planes.
Airbus issued new long-term demand forecasts on the eve of the Dubai Airshow, where a battered aviation industry is reeling from the loss of two years’ growth to COVID-19, while striving to defend its environmental plans amid growing climate pressure.
Airbus said it expected a market total of 39,020 jetliner deliveries in the next 20 years, fractionally lower than the 39,213 it predicted two years ago in its last rolling forecast.
The estimate for small planes like the best-selling A320 was essentially flat at 29,690 units, but the outlook for big jets that traditionally dominate the region fell 3.1 percent, reflecting a drop in long-haul travel on top of a glut of such aircraft.
The view echoes that of Boeing which in September cut its 20-year delivery forecast by 1 percent compared to 2019. That tempered greater pessimism seen from Boeing as the crisis peaked in 2020.
Airbus issued slightly weaker forecasts for medium jets — a key battleground that includes its longest-range narrrow-body jet, the A321XLR. Its sales have been causing a headache for Boeing at the top end of its recently troubled 737 MAX range.
Airbus slashed its forecast for average annual growth in passenger traffic to 3.9 percent from 4.3 percent in pre-pandemic 2019.
