Boeing Co reiterated on Thursday that it expects North America airlines to take delivery of about 7,200 new planes over the next 20 years at a value of about $700 billion.

Boeing, the world's second-largest commercial plane-maker after Airbus , said new airplane deliveries in the United States and Canada will be driven by the need to retire older aircraft.

The North American airline industry is mature and orders there lag Asia and the Middle East.

After several years of losses among the region's air carriers, we're seeing signs of improvement and airlines are beginning to implement fleet renewal plans as they look to the future, said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Boeing's regional outlook was first stated in the company's 20-year market outlook in July. The company periodically issues forecasts for specific regions.

Shares of Boeing, a Dow industrials component, were up 1.2 percent to $63.01 in early Thursday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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