Airbus, Europe’s largest aircraft manufacturer, states in its annual report on the future of the airline industry:
“The world's fleet, which includes both passenger and freighter aircraft, will grow from 14,980 at the end of 2006 to nearly 33,000 by 2026."
Over the next 20 years, the world’s airlines will require 23,385 new passenger aircraft with more than 100 seats, worth US$2.6 trillion, to serve demand for air travel.”
The chart supplied by Airbus shows that more than half of those aircraft will be new additions to the fleet, not replacements for retired aircraft.
The International Air Transport Association, the world’s largest airline trade association, also states in a recently released report:
The airline industry is cyclical so there will be the occasional dip in passenger traffic, still the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects airline passenger traffic to grow by 5.1 percent between now and 2026.
According to Airbus, dealing with this growth will require more than 24,000 new planes over the next 25 years, and those new planes won't fly themselves -- they need pilots.
In order to meet demand, 19,000 pilots will need to be trained each year until 2026. Flight schools now currently train around 16,000 annually.”
