U.S. aircraft maker Boeing says rising demand for air travel from China will further boost orders for planes in the next 20 years.

The company has forecast China will need more than 6,020 aircraft until 2032. The figure is 8 percent higher than the estimate Boeing made last year of 5,580 planes.

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The revised forecast also means that China's fleet of passenger aircraft will increase threefold over the next two decades.

China is the second-largest aircraft market in the world, underlining its role in the long-term global strategy of Boeing.

In the next 20 years, Boeing predicts, Chinese airlines will beat their U.S. counterparts to make the world's single-biggest aircraft market.

According to company officials, demand is growing for single-aisle and wide body planes as more and more Chinese travel abroad for leisure.  

"New business models like low-cost carrier, regional carriers are driving demand for more direct flights to more destinations," Boeing marketing executive Randy Tinseth told journalists in Beijing.

Based on estimates by brokerage CLSA, the number of outbound leisure travelers from China will grow to 200 million by 2020, which is double the current figures.

Chinese airlines are looking to overseas destinations to boost revenue as demand for domestic flights weakens on the back of a slowing economy and government belt-tightening measures.

Air China, for example, has added three new U.S. destinations to its itinerary, including Hawaii. 

It marked the first time the airline introduced new flights to the U.S. since the early 1980s.

Since January 2014, Air China has been flying three times a week to Honolulu.

China Southern Airlines, which mainly services routes from China to Australia, opened non-stop flights to New York in August.

Spring Airlines is considering purchasing Airbus A330 planes, despite being a budget carrier, to take advantage of increasing overseas travel by Chinese.

The airline provides mostly domestic and some Asian flights with its current fleet of Airbus Group A320 jets.

TagsChina air travel, Air China, China Southern Airlines, Spring Airlines