WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2020) Nearly 2,500 aircraft�exclusively dedicated to carrying freight will be needed to handle a projected increase in air cargo over the next two decades, Boeing said in a report on Tuesday.
"Enabled by a rebound in global trade and long-term growth, the WACF [World Air Cargo Forecast] forecasts demand for 2,430 freighters over the next 20 years, including 930 new production freighters and 1,500 freighters converted from passenger airplanes," a press release summarizing the report said.
The novel coronavirus pandemic, while slashing passenger airline traffic, has led to an expansion of e-commerce, thereby boosting demand for cargo-only carriers in the near term, the release said.
As a result, about 200 airlines have converged more than 2,000 passenger wide-body aircraft for cargo-only operations thus far in 2020, in some cases generating quarterly profits for carriers despite minimal passenger operations, the release added.
Traffic for all cargo air carriers increased 6 percent this year, and Boeing predicted that cargo growth will continue as e-commerce keeps expanding after the pandemic subsides.
