Aircraft manufacturers have been waiting for it for two years. The Dubai Airshow, the first lounge since the Covid-19 crisis, opened in the emirate on November 14. From Airbus to Boeing via equipment manufacturers, everyone in the aeronautics industry has come together. As if to exorcise the crisis, the Seattle manufacturer has dispatched its entire range to Dubai. Even its latest addition, the widebody 777X, which is a few years behind its schedule, is on the tarmac.
But the most striking element is the return of giant orders. In the game of who will win the biggest contract, Airbus has drawn the first. The European aircraft manufacturer has announced an order for 255 new generation A321 Neo medium-haul aircraft, placed by the American investment fund Indigo Partners. A contract valued, list price, at more than 33 billion dollars (about 28.8 billion euros). With this order, Indigo Partners will be able to supply planes to its airline customers such as the Hungarian Wizz Air, the new low cost champion in Europe, or the American Frontier, the Mexican Volaris or the South American JetSmart.
This mega order gives substance to the forecasts on aircraft requirements for the next twenty years presented by Airbus at the opening of the show. By 2040, the European aircraft manufacturer predicts that airlines around the world will need 39,000 aircraft. “We prefer to be a little more conservative” than the great rival Boeing, specifies Bob Lange, head of forecasts and market analysis at Airbus. The American estimated the need for new planes at 43,500 aircraft, representing a turnover of 7,200 billion dollars
Growth of low cost
In twenty years, the global fleet, now at 23,000 aircraft, will have more than doubled to reach “Around 47,000 planes”, says the head of forecasts and market analyzes at Airbus. Two years behind schedule originally planned by Airbus, according to which “The world has lost two years of growth” because of the pandemic. Over the next two decades, 15,250 aircraft will renew the companies’ fleets, while the other half will be used to support growth. Once again, the Covid-19 will have moved the lines. Before the crisis, Airbus predicted, in 2019, that 60% of aircraft would participate in fleet renewal, while a third of new aircraft purchases would be linked to industry growth.
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