Aircraft

US lobbying group Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) does not expect to see significant fallout from China's plan to curb capacity growth in 2009.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) today released a statement detailing its desire that Chinese airlines delay or cancel delivery of aircraft scheduled for next year, refrain from renewing some leases and accelerate the withdrawal of older aircraft.

Speaking to ATI today following AIA's annual forecast luncheon in Washington DC the association's CEO Marion Blakey acknowledged it is difficult to assess if China's initiative will have "a cooling effect" in the near term.

However, she says: "It is one thing if you are talking about new orders but another [thing] if you're talking about pulling out of the queue. That is what I would be surprised [about] if they do."

Blakey points out Chinese operators continue to hold substantial orders for aircraft featuring technological advances. She believes they would not want to relinquish those delivery slots.

AIA projects overall sales of US commercial aerospace products to reach $214 billion in 2009.

When questioned by ATI if that figure takes China's latest announcement into account, AIA's Blakey says: "Yes we're aware of this and did look at this as part of our forecasting."