It’s as bold a statement on the future of global air travel as you could wish to see.

    Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd, controlled by Asia’s richest man, Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-Shing, is to pay around $2 billion to build a fleet of some 60 airliners that it will lease to the continent’s up-and-coming airlines.

    In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Cheung Kong said it will buy 45 aircraft outright and buy a 60% stake in joint venture with an arm of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.

    The planes are being bought from a variety of sellers including General Electric Co’sGE 0.47% GE Capital Aviation Services Ltd.

    The move is a play on the long-term outlook for Chinese air passenger growth. The International Air Traffic Association expects global air passenger numbers to double within 20 years to 7.3 billion, mainly due to China, where numbers will grow by an average rate of 5.6% a year.

    By the IATA’s estimate, China will overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest air travel market by 2030, and have 1.3 billion passengers a year by 2034, ahead of the U.S.’s 1.2 billion.

    Reuters reported that Cheung Kong is also in talks to buy aircraft being sold by private equity firms including Terra Firma-owned lessor AWAS Aviation Capital Ltd, in an even bigger deal worth about $5 billion.

    Both Boeing Corp. BA -0.71% and Airbus also expect rapid growth in demand from Asia over the medium term, seeing total sales over the next 20 years of between $4.4 trillion and $5.2 trillion.

    关于全球航空业的未来，这大概是你能见到的最大胆直白的预测了。

    亚洲首富、香港亿万富豪李嘉诚控股的长江实业集团有限公司（Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd）准备豪掷约20亿美元，打造一支拥有60架客机的机队，以此为前景光明的亚洲航空公司提供飞机租赁服务。

    在向香港联合交易所（Hong Kong Stock Exchange）提交的文件中，长江实业表示将购买45架飞机，同时与日本的三菱商事株式会社（Mitsubishi Corp）组建合资企业，并持有60%的股份。

    所购置的飞机将来自多个卖家，包括通用电气公司（General Electric Co）旗下的商用飞机租赁金融航空服务公司GE Capital Aviation Services Ltd。

    此举显然是押注中国航空客运业的长期发展前景。根据国际航空运输协会（International Air Traffic Association）估计，未来20年全球的航空客运量将翻一番，达到73亿人次，其中主要客流来自中国，预计中国的航空客运量年均增长率将达到5.6%。

    国际航空运输协会还预测，中国将在2030年之前超越美国，成为全球最大的航空市场；到2034年，中国每年的客流量将达到13亿人次，领先于美国的12亿人次。

    路透社（Reuters）报道，长江实业还在与私募股权基金公司洽谈飞机收购事宜，其中包括泰丰资本（Terra Firma）旗下的租赁公司AWAS Aviation Capital Ltd，该笔交易所涉金额甚至更高，达50亿美元左右。

    波音公司（Boeing Corp.）和空中客车（Airbus）同样认为，亚洲的需求将在中期范围内迎来快速增长，未来20年该市场的总销售额有望达到4.4万亿美元至5.2万亿美元。（财富中文网）

    译者：南风

    审校：Patti