By Payungsak Wiriyabunditkul BANGKOK--Southeast Asia's economic integration and its plan for aviation liberalisation in 2015 will boost demand for air travel, said Boeing Co.'s (BA) sales director for Asia Pacific & India, Donald Frueh. "As part of the Asean integration in 2015, there is a plan for Open Sky, where airlines can operate throughout the Asean region and that will continue to spur development of traffic throughout the region," said Mr. Frueh on Wednesday at Suvarnabhumi airport, on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the delivery of a Boeing jet to Thai Airways. Meanwhile, Boeing sees growth opportunities in Asia outnumbering that of the U.S. and Europe, with strong demand forecast to come from the region's budget airlines. Mr. Frueh said that most of demand for airplanes in the U.S. is for replacement of old aircraft in existing fleets, whereas in the Asia Pacific region the demand is mainly for new markets and new passenger segments. "We see significant growth prospects for the low-cost segment in Asia. We have watched for a number of years how the low-cost segment has been a big contributor to growth as markets liberalized, it happened in the United State and Europe, and now it's happening in Asia," he added. Write to Payungsak Wiriyabunditkul at payungsak.wiriyabunditkul@dowjones.com Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
