Chicago, IL – Boeing has released a report projecting air cargo traffic to grow at an annual rate of 4.7 percent over the next 20 years, with global air freight traffic expected to more than double by 2033.

Major air cargo carriers were severely hit by the global financial crisis in 2008 and, despite a rebound in 2010, worldwide air cargo traffic has remained flat in recent years, the World Air Cargo Forecast said.

The market began to see growth again in second quarter of 2013 reaching 4.4 percent for the first seven months of 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier.

If this trend continues, 2014 will be the highest growth year for the air freight industry since 2010, according to the Boeing report.

“We see strong signs of a recovery as air freight traffic levels continue to strengthen after several years of stagnation,” said Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes’ vice president of marketing.

The global air cargo market “is now growing at nearly the long-term rates,” he said in a statement.

The new 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 growth rates over the next 20 years.

With increased air cargo traffic, the world freighter fleet is also expected to grow with deliveries of 840 new factory-built airplanes and 1,330 passenger-to-freighter conversion airplanes.

More than 52 percent of those deliveries are expected to replace retiring airplanes and the remainder used for fleet expansion.

10/17/2014