The worldwide air cargo market is set to triple in size over the next 20 years and drive demand fornew freighter aircraft, Boeing predicted in its newly-released 2007 Current Market Outlook.
Air cargo will see average growth of 6.1% per year, comprising 6.2% per year for air freightand 2.5% per year for airmail. This will triple the volume of world air cargo traffic (RTKs) overthe 20-year period, Boeing said.
The average size of freighter airplanes will increase to carry this increased amount offreight, and the dedicated cargo fleet will double from 1,980 to 3,980 airplanes, the manufacturerpredicted.
Some of the increase in freighter capacity will be accounted for by the 2,480 passengerairplanes that will be converted to freighters. In addition, 870 new dedicated freighter airplaneswill be delivered.
The proportion of cargo carried in the belly holds of passenger airplanes will decreasebecause dedicated freighters deliver more flexible and time-definite service, Boeing pointed out.In all, Boeing forecast a $2.8 trillion market for new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years.
