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Cargo market to need 870 new freighters by 2026
POSTED: 10:10 a.m. EDT, June 15,2007
The volume of world air cargo traffic over the next 20 years will triple, with an average annual growth of 6.1 percent a year, Boeing said in its 2007 Current Market Outlook report released today.
Boeing forecast that the average size of freighter airplanes would increase to accommodate the growing freight tonnage, and the dedicated cargo fleet would double from 1,980 to 3,980 airplanes.
Some of the increase in freighter capacity would be accounted for by the 2,480 passenger airplanes that will be converted to freighters. In addition, 870 new dedicated freighter airplanes will be delivered.
The proportion of cargo carried in the belly holds of passenger airplanes will decrease, because dedicated freighters can deliver a more flexible and time-definite service.
Boeing said the improved efficiency of the new types of widebody freighter airplanes recently offered to the market (the 777 Freighter and 747-8 Freighter) have provided air cargo carriers with options for service that have not previously been feasible.
This product response to market requirements has helped r revitalise interest in new widebody freighter acquisitions, which will go some way toward mitigating the effect of sustained high fuel prices., the Boeing forecast report said.
By 2026, about 64 percent of the freighter fleet will be widebody types, as opposed to about 58 percent today. |
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