The global airline passenger and freight fleet will double over the next 20 years, with about a 3 percent increase in airplane deliveries during the period, according to Boeing forecasts included in the company’s 2024 Commercial Market Outlook (CMO).
The CMO, released July 20, said nearly 44,000 new commercial jets would be required by 2043, with about half of the new deliveries replacing older jets — a reflection of what the report called “pent-up demand to replace ageing fleets where retirements have been delayed.”
Air traffic has rebounded from the sharp drop-off recorded during the pandemic, with growth returning to the long-term trend that Boeing forecast in 2004. Brad McMullen, Boeing senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing, said the rebound “shows how resilient our industry is, even as we all work through ongoing supply chain and production constraints and o…
