While citing a generally upbeat 20-year outlook for the Middle East airline industry, Boeing vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth conceded on Sunday at the Dubai Airshow that carriers in the region still lose more money than they make while the rest of the world registers record profits.

Calling 2019 “a bit more challenging” than the past several years, Tinseth also sees a shrinking cargo market. Still, he added, “the fundamentals” remain in place for a 5.1 percent annual growth in traffic over the company’s 20-year forecast period, during which time GDP will grow 3.2 percent a year, according to economists.  

Tinseth sounded particularly sanguine on the widebody demand in the region, where half of all deliveries involve twin-aisle airplanes. “The 777, and particularly the 300ER, has done amazing things in this market,” he said. “This is the largest market for the 777.”

Meanwhile, Tinseth noted the 787 Dreamliner carries the range capability to open new markets in a fashion the 777 has done in the past 10 years when operators in the region quadrupled capacity.

All told, widebodies constitute 46 percent of all deliveries in the Middle East, the highest proportion of any region in the world. But, even more telling perhaps, is that 72 percent of the monetary value of the airplanes delivered in the Middle East will come from widebodies, according to Boeing estimates.