There seems to be no let-up in the growth of the air passenger and freight market, in spite of high jet fuel prices, according to the Airbus Global Market Forecast for 2008.
Airbus anticipates a demand for some 24,300 new passenger and freighter aircraft between 2007 and 2026, creating an average delivery rate of some 1,215 airliners annually during this 20-year period.
The Forecast anticipates that passenger traffic will grow at an average rate of 4.9 percent per year, leading to a near threefold increase between 2007 and 2026.
World air cargo traffic will expand at an average annual rate of 6.1 percent for the next two decades, tripling current traffic levels. Asia's air cargo markets will continue to lead the world air cargo industry in average annual growth rates, with domestic China and intra-Asia markets expanding 10.8 percent and 8.6 percent per year respectively. The more mature North American and European markets reflect slower growth rates, with the exception of those linked to Asia and Southwest Asia.
The world freighter fleet has remained fairly stable for the past five years, masking strong numbers of deliveries. A closer look at the freighter fleet shows that widebody freighter deliveries are accelerating as aging standard-body aircraft and first-generation widebodies are retired. This trend has helped increase the widebody freighter fleet from fewer than 250 in 1994 to nearly 900 today. Over the next 20 years, the freighter fleet size is forecast to nearly double, from 1,789 in 2005 to 3,563 in 2025.
The 20-year Airbus Global Market Forecast gives a detailed analysis of world air transport developments, covering nearly 300 distinct passenger and freight traffic flows, as well as a year-by-year fleet evolution of the world's aircraft operators through fleet analysis of nearly 700 passenger airlines and 177 freighter operators. In doing so, the forecast covers aircraft demand from the regional market to the very largest aircraft available today - the A380.