SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Serving airlines that will operate flights lasting 14 hours or longer is a “key consideration” for Boeing Co’s (BA.N) global growth strategy over the next 20 years, an executive said on Tuesday.
Those flights, sometimes called ultra-long haul, have grabbed headlines in recent weeks as Qantas Airlines Ltd (QAN.AX) tested a 19-hour flight between New York and Sydney using a Boeing 787-9 and prepares to test an even longer flight between Sydney and London with the same plane.
“Globally, if long haul is growing 5% per year, ultra long haul is growing twice that per year,” Darren Hulst, a managing director at Boeing, told Reuters in Sao Paulo while discussing market forecasts for the next 20 years.
Commercial aviation overall is expected to grow 4.6% per year on average between 2019 and 2038, according to a Boeing market study released in September, representing a slight slowing from the previous pace of about 5%, according to figures compiled by the World Bank.
Growth in the ultra-long haul sector highlights changing habits among passengers, who are willing to travel longer. It is also a tribute to the increasing fuel efficiency of aircraft that allow for such routes to be flown profitably.
But Hulst said this market has developed without Boeing expecting it to, pointing specifically to the carrier’s use of the 787-9 plane to fly ever longer trips.
This plane is now the “key player” for ultra long-haul flights involving midsized wide-body planes.
“When we designed the airplane, I think the sweet spot for
