A top Boeing executive says China’s fast growing demand for aircraft is influencing how the company designs and markets planes.

Boeing’s senior vice president of sales and marketing for greater China and Korea, Ihssane Mounir, says China will likely need about 5,000 new planes over the next 20 years as air travel expands in synch with rising incomes.

He told The Associated Press that Boeing hopes to capture at least half of that demand.

He said Boeing is eager to create planes that satisfy Chinese customers and suit the China market.

Flights within China are rarely more than four or five hours, meaning carriers prefer single-aisle passenger jets over large planes.(AP)