Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has predicted that Southeast Asian airlines will require another 2,100 new aircraft valued at about US$330 billion.

Vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Randy Tinseth, shared the company’s market data and forecast on Tuesday at a media conference focused on the global and Southeast Asia commercial airplane markets.  He predicts that the world’s airlines will require 29,000 new aircraft through to 2028, valued at US$3.2 trillion.

Tinseth said that it was encouraging that 27 per cent of their 20 year forecast was already on order, also pointing out that it was equally important that the orders remain balanced by type of aircraft, airline business model and region of the world.

He went on to note that as of the third quarter of this year, Boeing had a backlog of 3,400 aircraft, valued at US$254 billion.

Tinseth said that the airline and aviation industry has been hurt by the volatile business environment, due to the world recession as well as volatile fuel prices, and doesn’t predict a recovery until at least 2010.

However he reports that the data indicates that the economic downturned had already reached its lowest point and the recover has already begun, but it would be a long and slow process.

He predicts that air traffic growth will outpace economic growth in Southeast Asia, with air travel growth over the next 20 years expected to be above 6.5 per cent while the region’s economy is predated to grow at a rate of 4.6 per cent.

Looking at the Asia Pacific region as a whole, long-term annual air traffic growth is projected to be 6.9 per cent over the next 20 years.