Chinese airlines are likely to purchase 6,810 planes worth $1.025 trillion in the next 20 years as they expand fleets to cater to robust growth in domestic and overseas tourism, Boeing (ba, +0.72%) forecast on Tuesday.

The latest estimate of 6,810 planes is 7.6% higher than the 6,330 aircraft predicted last year.

“The continuing expansion of China’s middle class, coupled with new visa policies and a wide range of widebody airplanes… gives us every reason to expect a very bright future for China’s long-haul market,” Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ vice president of marketing, said in a statement.

He also said that he expects passenger traffic to grow 6.4% in China annually over the next 20 years. … (read more)

Source: Fortune via Reuters