Airbus forecasts doubling of global commercial fleet amid rising passenger traffic

The company currently faces a significant backlog of orders. As of September's end, Airbus had delivered 73 aircraft to 41 customers in that month alone and reached a total of 507 deliveries to 79 customers so far this year. Net orders during the first nine months amounted to 514 new aircraft from 33 customers. The backlog exceeds 8,500 aircraft across several product lines: A220 family, A320 family, A330neo, and A350 family—including the yet-to-be-certified A350F model.

Earlier this year, Airbus announced plans to ramp up production rates: increasing A320 family output to 75 units per month by 2027; raising A220 production to 14 per month in 2026; boosting A350 manufacturing to 12 per month by 2028; and slightly increasing A330neo output from four per month now to five per month by 2029.

Boeing has issued similar forecasts in its own market outlook. The American manufacturer projects a global fleet size of about 49,640 active commercial aircraft by 2044. Boeing expects more than two-thirds of these will be narrowbody jets while widebody jets will make up around one-sixth; regional jets are forecasted to decline globally by over a quarter during this period as airlines modernize their fleets with newer models.

Boeing also anticipates that North America, Eurasia, and China will have the largest commercial fleets by mid-century. However, regions such as South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa are expected to see the highest passenger traffic growth rates.

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