Airbus foresees demand for 25,000 aircraft in the next 20 years

Airbus, in its latest Global Market Forecast has stated that about 25,000 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at USD 3.1 trillion will be delivered from 2009 to 2028. Emerging economies, evolving airline networks, expansion of Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) and the increasing number of mega-cities, as well as traffic growth and the replacement of older less efficient aircraft with more eco-efficient airliners are factors driving demand for new aircraft.

Larger aircraft in all size categories are required to help ease aircraft congestion and to accommodate growth on existing routes and achieve more with less. Compared to timescales for aircraft investment and fleet turnover, economic down cycles are relatively short and a strong underlying demand for air travel will drive growth. In 2009, a decline in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK's) of two per cent is expected to be followed by a rise of 4.6 per cent in 2010.

The forecast anticipates that in the next 20 years, passenger traffic RPK's will remain resilient to the cyclical effects of the sector and increase by 4.7 per cent per year or double in the next 15 years.