Boeing Says Pandemic Will Cut Demand For Planes For A Decade

Boeing Co. largely stuck to its rosy forecast for long-term demand, predicting that increasing air travel in Asia will help create a market for more than 43,000 planes over the next 20 years, down about 1,000 from its 2019 outlook. The long-term optimism is based on history, including aviation’s eventual recovery after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and other crises, said the company’s vice president of commercial marketing, Darren Hulst.

Chicago-based Boeing, which along with Europe’s Airbus dominates the aircraft-building industry, has seen orders and deliveries of new planes crumble this year. Boeing was already under pressure from the grounding last year of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, after two deadly crashes.