Boeing ups 20-year forecast for plane purchases by China

Boeing’s outlook for sales of new planes to China is on the rise.

Chinese airlines will buy 7,690 new planes worth $1.2 trillion over the next two decades to keep pace with booming consumer and business demand for air travel.

Boeing raised its previous forecast by 6.2 percent higher than its previous prediction of 7,240 planes, according to Reuters.

China is the world's fastest growing aviation market and Boeing and its European rival Airbus are fighting to increase market share with both opening assembly plants in the country.

Large airplanes have been left out of China's retaliatory tariff lists, sparing the company from the trade war between the United States and China.

Boeing also predicted that China will account for 18 percent of the world's commercial airplane fleet by 2037, up from the prior forecast of 15 percent.