Commercial Aircraft Market Value to Double by 2042 to US$255B

Airbus expects the commercial aircraft services market to nearly double in value to US$ 255 billion by 2042, according to its latest Global Services Forecast (GSF) reflecting the ‘Maintain’, ‘Train & Operate’ and ‘Enhance’ categories.

Driving this momentum are rebounding air traffic as well as a demand for more digitally-enabled and connected aircraft. 

The GSF sees more than 17,000 aircraft being replaced between now and 2042, as a result of continuous fleet modernisation and investment in latest generation aircraft. This will create growing market opportunities to reuse, repair and recycle.

“Airbus is well positioned to answer today’s and future services needs in order to support the industry doing more with less, increasing efficiency while reducing fuel consumption, emissions and noise,” says Cristina Aguilar Grieder, Senior Vice President Customer Services at Airbus.

Airbus expects the market for ‘Maintenance’ to grow from US$ 108 billion to US$ 210 billion. The market to ‘Enhance’ aircraft is expected to grow from US$ 11 billion annually to US$ 28 billion US$ and the market for ‘Train and Operate’ from US$ 11 billion to US$ 17 billion in 2042. 

As a result, Airbus foresees a need for an additional 2.2 million highly skilled people over the next 20 years, consisting of 680,000 new technicians, 590,000 new pilots and 920,000 new cabin crew.

Global aviation services will see its biggest growth in South Asia, China and the Middle East. The regions with the highest market volume remain North America, Europe, China and Asia-Pacific.