Freighter forecast.(Industry International)(Brief Article)

Airports International, October, 2004

Boeing has forecast the worldwide freighter fleet will nearly double during the next 20 years to 3,456 aircraft. It estimates that 2,950 freighters will enter the fleet by 2023, and 1,260 cargo airliners will be retired, a net gain of 1,690. It added that freighters as a percentage of the total world fleet will decrease from 11% to 10% because the average freighter will be bigger.

The share of wide-body freighters is expected to increase to 60%, compared with the current 44%, with more than half of the freighters that will be added to the fleet being wide-body varieties.