A visiting commercial aircraft market specialist forecast that the industry would continue to experience a boom in business, driven by a steady growth in plane orders over the next two decades.

“As we look at the global aviation market, it’s a good market. Frankly, it is getting better,” Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a press conference at the Conrad Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday. 

According to Tinseth, the global airline traffic was expected to grow by an annual average of 5 percent for the next 20 years. This means that over that period of time, airlines will need up to nearly 36,800 new aircrafts valued at $5.2 trillion won, he said.

The Northeast Asian region, including Korea, Japan and Taiwan, is no exception to this global trend.

Boeing predicted that demand for new airlines in the region will reach up to 1,300 new aircrafts valued at $280 billion over the next 20 years.

“Along with the continued growth (of the commercial airline industry) in the region, we see the market continue to change,” the Boeing executive said. “For example, over the past several years, we have seen strong growth in local low-cost carriers.”

In Korea, Boeing zeroed in on the global expansion of Korean aircrafts as one of the key changes in the market.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)