With a strong air cargo market that exceeds pre-pandemic levels, Boeing forecasts continued long-term growth, saying air cargo traffic will grow an average of 4% annually through 2043. These projections appear in Boeing’s 2024 World Air Cargo Forecast (WACF), the biennial overview and long-term outlook for the air cargo industry.
“As the fastest and most reliable way to move goods, sustained growth in air cargo has returned the industry to its long-term trend,” said Darren Hulst, Boeing vice president of Commercial Marketing. “There will be many drivers for continued demand for freighters over the next 20 years, including the expansion of emerging markets and global growth in manufacturing and e-commerce.”
More information about WACF 2024:
- The global air cargo fleet is forecast to grow to 3.900 aircraft by 2043, a two-thirds increase from 2.340 freighters in 2023.
- Driven by demand in high-growth Asian markets, the widebody freighter fleet will nearly double.
- Nearly half of production and conversion deliveries will replace retired freighters with more capable and fuel-efficient models — due to recent market needs, many older jets remain in service.
More information about WACF 2024:
- The global air cargo fleet is forecast to grow to 3.900 aircraft by 2043, a two-thirds increase from 2.340 freighters in 2023.
- Driven by demand in high-growth Asian markets, the widebody freighter fleet will nearly double.
- Nearly half of production and conversion deliveries will replace retired freighters with more capable and fuel-efficient models — due to recent market needs, many older jets remain in service.
Regional changes:
- East and South Asian markets will see the highest traffic growth year-on-year, driven by expanding economies and consumer demand.
- With the fleet Asia-Pacific expected to nearly triple, carriers in that region will need the most deliveries (980), closely followed by North America (955). These two regions will for more than two-thirds of global deliveries.
- India's domestic air cargo market will nearly quadruple as express and e-commerce transportation networks expand.
Express carrier forecast:
- Express carriers will serve a quarter of the air cargo market (up from 18% today).
- Express carriers are poised to grow faster than the industry average due to their increasing role in e-commerce distribution and the expansion of express networks in emerging markets.
In numbers:
|
Freighter deliveries (2024-2043) |
2.845 |
|
Production |
1.005 |
|
Conversions |
1.840 |
|
Delivery types |
|
|
Standard body |
1.250 |
|
Medium wide body |
785 |
|
Large wide fuselage |
810 |
The complete World Air Cargo Forecast for 2024 can be found at www.boeing.com/wacf .
Read also
