Bombardier Releases Bizjet Forecast

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The current downturn is a blip and happy days will be here again for business aviation soon, according to Bombardier. As painful as the current downturn has been, the global economy is expected to recover quickly and Bombardier is predicting the fortunes of the business aviation industry will too. In its annual market forecast, delivered at the Paris Air Show, Bombardier said that over the next 10 years 11,500 business aircraft, worth $256 billion, will be delivered. That’s only about 2,000 less than the current number of bizjets currently flying (13,600) and the company says most of those will stay in service despite the new deliveries. By 2019, the company expects the worldwide fleet of business aircraft to be about 23,800. “While in the short term the industry faces such important challenges as high pre-owned inventories, negative public perceptions and a difficult economic climate, Bombardier remains confident that there is a strong potential for the business aircraft industry over the next 10 years,” the company said. “The anticipated return of global economic growth is expected to result in a strong recovery in the demand for business jets.” Bombardier is equally bullish on the future of small airliners.

In a 20-year forecast, Bombardier sees 12,400 deliveries in the 20-to-149-seat segment worth $589 billion. Bombardier used Paris to update progress on its CSeries airliner, which will be available with up to 130 seats. The company said the CSeries project is on schedule with first deliveries in about four years and a first flight in 2012. Meanwhile, Boeing is predicting the overall airliner market will be worth $3.2 trillion over the next 20 years and more than 29,000 new aircraft will be built. The outlook is only slightly less rosy than the 29,400 new deliveries it predicted a year ago.

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