Airbus and Boeing are jointly attempting to unseat Lockheed Martin from South Korea’s KF-X indigenous fighter program, offering technology from Europe that could not be supplied from U.S. sources, industry officials say.

The growth potential in many Asia-Pacific markets offers airlines an opportunity unrivaled in any other global region. However, carriers here are also facing the fact that to tap into the expected bonanza, they must remain financially viable in the short term. This is one of the challenges facing most Asian airlines in 2015—growing sufficiently to ensure they can grab their share of the action without creating capacity oversupply. Market data show that the balance tipped too far toward supply in 2014, and now a readjustment is needed.

Airlines are showing by their orders that they are willing to accept the reengined derivative concept for narrowbodies as well as widebodies. And manufacturers in Asia are edging further into the civil aircraft production field.