Boeing Forecast Projects More Than 38,000 New Planes Needed by 2034

Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 12:30 PM ET, Fri June 12, 2015

As the world's population continues to expand and air travel becomes more accessible, airplane manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus and others are anticipating a productive future.

According to Boeing's recently released annual market forecast, the Chicago-based manufacturer anticipates that airlines across the world will need more than 38,000 new planes over the next 20 years in order to meet the expected rise in demand.

Boeing estimates that the number of passengers will climb by 4.9 percent each year.

As a result, the company's projection for how many new planes will be needed over the next two decades is up 3.5 percent compared to last year.

"The commercial airplane market continues to be strong and resilient," said the vice president of Boeing's commercial airplane division Randy Tinseth in a statement. "As we look forward, we expect the market to continue to grow and the demand for new aircraft to be robust."

Nearly three-fifths (58 percent) of those 38,050 planes will be delivered and used to accommodate the growing number of air travelers. Meanwhile, the remaining planes are expected to replace existing ones.

Based on the latest forecast, by the year 2034, the number of aircraft worldwide would balloon to 43,560, more than double the 21,600 planes in service as of 2014.

Boeing's annual market forecast also reveals that roughly 70 percent of the new planes will be single-aisle planes, and a majority of the new planes (38 percent) will be delivered to Asia.

North America (21 percent) and Europe (19 percent) round out the top three regions by new plane demand.

Those figures represent the disparity in market growth. While North America and Europe continue to climb at a steady rate, emerging markets like Asia are likely to experience a rapid rise in demand.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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