A senior Boeing executive sees nothing but blue skies for the commercial jet industry for the next several decades. William Ampofo, vice president of business and general aviation for the company, told a press conference Monday at EAA Airventure that the commercial jet market would boom with more than 44,000 new aircraft worth an estimated $6.8 trillion needed within the next 20 years concurrent with a demand of $9.1 trillion in related commercial services.  

Ampofo called the demand for new aircraft “robust” due to rising standards of living worldwide, increased urbanization, increased airline competition, and increased load factors that now routinely exceed 80 percent. He said real annual fleet growth would top 3.4 percent for the foreseeable future. He said the number of commercial aircraft in service would double over the next 40 years to 50,660, with 32,000 of those single-aisle, with the bulk of the overall demand for all models, 41 percent, coming from the Asia Pacific region, followed by Europe and North America. The demand for services closely follows this regional breakdown. 

The demand for new aircraft combined with high retirement rates will also generate a need for more than 804,000 new pilots and 769,000 technicians worldwide over the next two decades. In North America alone, 25 percent of technicians are expected to retire within the next three years and 30 percent of pilots within the next decade. “There’s a true war for talent,” he said, stressing that Boeing’s mission was to “inspire, develop, and sharpen” the next generation of talent. Ampofo said Boeing already provides support for 291 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and workforce development programs. Part of those efforts are designed to encourage more women to enter the aviation profession and “close the gender gap,” he said, noting that currently only 6 percent of all ATP-rated pilots in the U.S. and Canada are women. 

Ampofo said connectivity, sustainability, and innovation would drive the industry going forward, noting that new aircraft provide a 140-fold increase in operational data that help drive predictive analytics and increase efficiency.