China's fleet will likely quadruple to 4,460 airplanes in the next 20 years as carriers expand capacity to handle surging passenger traffic, Boeing Co said in a report yesterday.

The country's airlines will spend US$340 billion on 3,400 new commercial planes over the next two decades ending 2026, making China the largest buyer of commercial airplanes outside the United States. The forecast was revised upward from Boeing's estimate last year of US$280 billion in spending on almost 2,900 planes.

"Following the anticipated surge in passenger traffic for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the China domestic market will grow nearly five-fold by 2026 to become slightly larger than today's intra-North American market," the US plane maker said in the statement.

Passenger traffic worldwide will climb five percent a year in the next two decades, according to Boeing's global market outlook in June. In China, passenger traffic has been jumping an average 16 percent annually in recent years.

Boeing and European rival Airbus SAS are battling for market share as increased travel within China as well as to and from North America and Europe spurs demand.

Air China Ltd, the nation's largest international carrier, will add flights to Toronto, Rome and 10 other European and North American cities by the end of 2009.

China Southern Airlines Co will begin five new routes by the end of 2009 including flights to Newark, New Jersey and Moscow. China Eastern Airlines Corp will start a route from Shanghai to Los Angeles in June next year.

(Shanghai Daily September 19, 2007)