Boeing forecasts 20-year air cargo traffic to grow 4.7% Annually

Chicago-based Boeing Co., the world's largest planemaker, said global air-freight market is expected to double in the next two decades helped by demand to move goods within China and from Asia to North America.

Carriers will buy 840 new freighter planes valued at $240 billion in the next 20 years on a revival in air-freight traffic, Boeing said in a statement distributed through PR Newswire. Goods flown by air will rise at an annual rate of 4.7 percent through the next two decades, Boeing said.

Airlines will also convert 1,330 passenger planes to freighter versions in that time, Boeing said. World air-cargo traffic has been recovering since the second quarter of last year as demand for electronic goods such as smartphones increased. At the current pace, this year will have the highest growth year for air freight since 2010, the planemaker said.

"We see strong signs of a recovery as air-freight traffic levels continue to strengthen after several years of stagnation," said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing. "The air cargo market is now growing at nearly the long-term rates."

Boeing expected 70 percent of the 840 new air freighters to be large planes, such as the 747-8 and 777, which can carry more than 80 tons of cargo in a single takeoff.

The new Boeing forecast shows Asia-North America and Europe-Asia will continue to be the dominant world air cargo markets with the most traffic volume. Intra-Asia, domestic China and Asia-North America markets are expected to have the fastest rates of growth over the next 20 years.

Air cargo traffic increased 4.5 percent in the first eight months of this year, according to the International Air Transport Association. Asia-Pacific carriers, which make up for 39 percent of the global air-freight market, posted a 5.2 percent rise in demand.