GCC, a game changer in Boeing's centennial run

Boeing celebrated its 100th anniversary last week, coinciding with the end of the 2016 Farnborough Air Show.
While the show will be remembered for how low-key order activity was, Boeing's centennial experience pavilion was an amazing hit for visitors, delegates, media and a whole host of VIPs.
But while the Farnborough Air Show in my mind plays second-fiddle to the importance of the Dubai Air Show, Boeing's global growth within the last 100 years has seen it move away from relying on US airlines to swell its backlog.
And nowhere is growth more robust and prevalent than right here in the GCC. Despite the regional turmoil that has seen an unending war in Syria, a war without end in Yemen, a humanitarian disaster in Iraq, Jordan, Libya and Lebanon - the thirst for travel from the GCC - both regionally and internationally - means Boeing has seen orders from Middle Eastern carriers arrive in a very big way.
It used to be the case that either the Paris or Farnborough shows would be the mainstay for new airplane launches - but neither venue was the site for the historic deal to launch the 777X family with 259 orders worth almost $100 billion at list prices. It was Dubai.
Randy Tinseth, Boeing's VP of marketing, unveiled the company's 2016-2035 current market outlook at the Farnborough Air Show last week. What is telling is the numbers about the GCC.
Strong demand
Boeing forecasts demand for $770 billion new airplanes over the next 20 years - many of which will comprise the medium widebody family such as the 777X. The company also sees 3,310 new deliveries in that same time period.
Given that the GCC remains one of the most robust when it comes to delivering monthly traffic figures sporting double-digit growth, this is supported by the fact that over one third of the entire Earth's population lives just a short five-hour flight time out of hub cities such as Dubai.
Over a nine-hour flight radius, that figure becomes almost two-thirds - almost five billion people.
So, it's easy to see why the likes of Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and flydubai have been big buyers of new airplanes - not just widebody, but narrowbody too.
The speed of airport development has helped airlines in the region latch onto demand and proliferate routes at a frenetic rate which has led Boeing to seek the launch of programmes such as the 777X on the back of carriers who demand jets that will open markets and routes in a way that has never been done before.
Growth ambitions
So while Boeing looks towards its second century of flight with more aspirations than before, the company is aware that its backlog, much more diversified today than 30 years ago, is also more reliant upon growth from areas such as the GCC.
While that's no bad thing per se, and of course, the regional uncertainty that we see, underlined by the failed military coup in Turkey, there are plenty of "shocks" that remain in the marketplace that could lead to deferrals of orders or outright cancellations.
But many GCC airlines - regardless of whether they are state-backed or not - have all benefitted greatly from new bilateral air accords, more liberal open skies agreements and a propensity to lure human capital to the GCC to help sustain and maintain their own aviation growth ambitions.
And when you look at how intertwined Boeing is here in the GCC, it is fair to say that the company can look forward to its next 100 years with promise and hope - built upon a vision of airlines in the region that want to connect the world using new technology airplanes such as the 777X and 787 in a way that could not have been done at a time when the legendary 707 entered service.
Just as Arab airlines are game changers when it came to launching 777X at the 2013 Dubai Air Show, in the same way, Boeing is also changing its game-play to harness the strength of customers here that eclipse all other international competitors.
The writer is chief analyst at StrategicAero Research. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.