22,700 new aircraft worth $2.6 trillion required: Airbus

Toulouse, Nov 22: Between 2006 and 2025, some 22,700 new passenger and freight aircraft valued at 2.6 trillion dollars will be required by aircraft operators, according to the latest Airbus global market forecast.

This represents an increase of some 5,400 aircraft compared with the previous one.

Of the newly produced airliners, Airbus forecasts that some 21,900 new passenger aircraft of more than 100 seats will be needed, creating an average delivery close to 1,100 passenger aircraft per year, up from around 800 two years ago.

This requirement results from an average annual traffic growth in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) of 4.8 per cent, leading to passenger traffic growth of around two-and-a-half times and an increase in the world aircraft fleet of some 14,600 aircraft.

Freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) are forecast to increase by six per cent annually over the same period, generating the need for 3,580 freighter deliveries (mostly conversions), of which 800, or 22 per cent, will be factory-built freighters.

Most significantly, the period will be marked by an increasing demand for new more fuel-efficient airliners, to help address airline operating costs as well as environmental concerns.

This factor will lead to a higher replacement rate of over 12,000 aircraft.

UNI