Nearly 44,000 new commercial airplanes will enter service worldwide over the next 20 years, according to Boeing's 2026 Commercial Market Outlook, a delivery wave that will push the global fleet up almost 80 percent to more than 50,000 airplanes by 2045. The forecast, released ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow, breaks the total down by 33,545 single-aisle jets, 7,715 widebodies, 1,435 regional aircraft and 930 freighters.

The scale of that growth carries direct implications for maintenance, repair and overhaul providers. Half of the projected deliveries are intended to replace older, less fuel-efficient airplanes rather than add net new capacity, and Boeing expects less than 10 percent of previous-generation aircraft to remain flying by 2045. That transition means MRO networks will spend the next two decades managing two parallel workloads: servicing a rapidly expanding population of new-generation aircraft while phasing out legacy fleets.

Passenger traffic is projected to grow about 4 percent annually, doubling global air travel between 2026 and 2045, while air cargo traffic is forecast to expand roughly 3.7 percent per year, a pace Boeing says will outrun broader trade and economic growth. International freighter capacity has already grown 5 percent year to date in 2026 despite geopolitical disruptions in the Middle East, a sign the sector is absorbing shocks without slowing fleet renewal plans.

For MRO shops and technicians, the widening fleet, more than 36,000 single-aisle jets and over 8,000 widebodies by 2045, points to sustained demand for line and heavy maintenance capacity, engine overhaul slots and a larger trained workforce over the next two decades.

Source: Boeing -- https://www.boeing.com/commercial/market/commercial-market-outlook