Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will acquire 8,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft, valued at $1.2tn, over the next 20 years, according to Airbus’s latest forecast for the region.

The orders will form one third of predicted global deliveries between now and 2028 and the region will drive demand for larger aircraft types.

Resulting from growth in passenger traffic, Asia-Pacific is expected to take delivery of 880 very large aircraft, 2,570 twin-aisle widebodies and 4,560 single-aisle aircraft.

In the freighter category, the region will require about 1,500 aircraft over 20 years, of which, approximately 340 will be new production freighters, while many will be converted from passenger models.

In the time frame, Asia-Pacific will overtake the US and Europe as the largest air transport market carrying over 30% of global passenger traffic and around 40% of all air freight.

Airbus has about 1,430 aircraft in service with 66 operators across the region, with another 1,120 on order for future delivery accounting for 32% of the firm’s total backlog.