Airbus projects passenger fleet will more than double in 20 years

The world’s passenger fleet will more than double to 48,000 aircraft in 20 years with traffic growing at 4.4 per cent per year, driving a need for 37,390 new passenger and freighter aircraft, according to Airbus’ new Global Market Forecast 2018-2037.

Growth drivers include private consumption increasing 2.4 times in emerging economies, higher disposable incomes and a near doubling of the middle classes globally.

Emerging countries will account for over 60 per cent of economic growth, with trips per capita to multiply 2.5 times for these nations.

Combined with evolving airline business models and continuing liberalisation, the growing scale of air transportation will lead to an increasing resilience to regional slowdowns, Airbus says.

Looking at the four segmentations (from small to extra large), in the small segment typically covering the space where most of today’s single-aisle aircraft compete, there is a forecast future requirement for 28,550 new aircraft, representing more than three-quarters of total expected demand.

In the medium segment, for missions requiring additional capacity and range flexibility, represented by smaller widebodies and longer-range single-aisle aircraft, Airbus forecasts demand for 5,480 passenger and freight aircraft.

Read more...