European planemaker Airbus says it is the dominant aircraft supplier there, winning 80 percent of all new business in the Asia-Pacific region last year. <br /><br />At the Singapore Airshow, Airbus bosses said they were optimistic about more orders, despite worries about the economies of emerging markets, many of which are located there.<br /><br />Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier told reporters: “With an average increase in passenger traffic of six percent per year for the entire region for the next 20 years, and I believe this is pessimistic, I believe this region will grow even faster because year on year, our predictions are getting higher.”<br /><br />The European planemaker said that in 2013 it received 379 firm orders from the Asia-Pacific region. <br /><br />It also delivered 331 new aircraft, or over half of all new planes that entered into service with the region’s airlines.<br /><br />In Singapore, Airbus has been showing off the new A350, the first of which is due to be delivered by the end of this year to Qatar Airways <br /><br />Nearly a nearly a third of the orders for the plane – its rival to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner – are from the Asia-Pacific region.
