Increase for air cargo

The global air cargo market, currently showing significant strength through a flurry of new freighter orders, is poised for strong 20-year growth, during which

forecasts that the world freighter airplane fleet will double from 1,760 to 3,530 airplanes.

According to the Current Market Outlook 2005, issued annually by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, 2,870 freighters will enter the fleet by 2024 and 1,100 cargo airplanes will be retired, for a net gain of 1,770 airplanes.

Freighters of all sizes will provide more than half of the world's total air cargo capacity, a slight increase from today, although as a percentage of the total world airplane fleet, freighters will decrease from 10.5 percent to 10 percent, due to an increase in size of the average freighter.

“The overall forecast is slightly higher than last year's forecast, with about 100 more airplanes entering the fleet than we projected previously,” said Jim Edgar, regional director, Cargo Marketing for Asia. “Carriers also are looking increasingly to large freighters, especially the 747 and 777 models, for optimal efficiency and range.”