A irbus and Boeing have never seen eye to eye on very much, but the market size for new aircraft sales has always been a source of grudging agreement. Now, they cannot even agree on what size of aircraft airlines will buy. Airbus is relying heavily on its forecast for the very large aircraft market vindicating its decision to invest in the A380 programme. Boeing insists that the future is in smaller twin aisle aircraft like its 7E7. Both companies are publicly optimistic. Boeing suggests 24,300 aircraft will be required by 2022 with an order value of $1.9 trillion in 2002 dollars. Airbus believes the number of deliveries will be just under 16,500 (some 30% less than Boeing's view). But, at $ 1.6 trillion, Airbus' estimate of the market value is only 15% less than Boeing's figure. The convergence is explained by Airbus' view that a greater proportion of deliveries will be of very large aircraft like the A380 which have a higher value. Twin aisle aircraft account for fewer deliveries in the European company's forecast.
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