Farnborough, England ? Demand for new passenger and freight aircraft is rebounding after an unprecedented global downturn and in spite of chronically high fuel costs, U.S. manufacturer Boeing Co. and its European rival Airbus said Monday at Britain’s Farnborough International Air Show.

Boeing announced a $2.96 billion sale of 777-300ER planes to Emirates Airline, while Airbus predicted it would exceed its planned delivery of new planes this year.

More than 300,000 people were to attend the air show this week where more than 1,300 exhibitors from 32 countries will show off the latest in aviation technology.

Boeing foresees 5.2 percent annual growth in global passenger traffic and 6.2 percent growth in air cargo business, after nearly three years of lost production due to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the SARS epidemic in Asia, the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the war in Iraq. The company estimates that airlines will buy some 25,000 new planes worth $2 trillion during the next two decades, said Alan Mulally, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive.

A rebound in the commercial aviation market could provide a boost to the Kansas economy because Boeing employs about 12,000 people at its Wichita plant.

Mulally, a Lawrence High School and Kansas University graduate, argued that airlines would need aircraft to make longer and more frequent flights and would prefer flying point-to-point between final destinations rather than via congested hubs. Boeing, with headquarters in Chicago, is developing its new medium-sized 7E7 aircraft to meet this hoped-for demand.

About 24 airlines already have paid deposits for more than 200 7E7s, and Boeing expects to convert some of these down payments into firm orders “through the end of this year,” Mulally said.

“These are negotiations we are doing now that will lead to definitive contracts,” he said. The 217-seat 7E7 “Dreamliner” is to be launched in 2008.

Meanwhile, Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard estimated that air traffic grew by 7 percent last year and would rise by 10 percent this year, even though aviation fuel prices also have increased.

Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, has received 104 firm orders so far this year and claims more than half of the airline market.