As Boeing bleeds cash, Airbus predicts it'll double the size of its fleet worldwide in the next 20 years
Airbus reports an optimistic 20-year demand outlook and expects to double its global fleet, as Boeing faces legal issues and losses
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- Airbus forecasts that it'll be able to double the size of its global fleet to 48,230 planes by 2043.
- The demand comes from strong growth in Asia and the Middle East, per Airbus.
- The optimistic outlook stands in stark contrast to Boeing's losses, which have been in the billions.
As its competitor Boeing bleeds millions of dollars in the face of legal issues, Airbus has reported a much more optimistic future outlook.
The aircraft manufacturer revised its 20-year demand outlook in an annual global market forecast, saying it expects to more than double its global fleet size in the next two decades.
The current size is 24,260, per Airbus documents seen by Business Insider. Airbus forecasts that this number will rise to 48,230 by 2043, with 42,430 new deliveries expected until then.
"We see particularly strong growth in Asia and the Middle East, led particularly by India and China," Bob Lange, head of market analysis and forecasts at Airbus, told Reuters.
To be sure, Airbus' positive outlook for the future might be a bright spot in the aviation industry.
Companies like Boeing, for instance, have been bleeding cash. In its first-quarter earnings report, Boeing reported that it burned through $3.9 billion in cash. Boeing also posted a net loss of $355 million in that quarter.
Boeing has also agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and will cough up $243.6 million to resolve a US Justice Department investigation into two 737 Max fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The department said Boeing violated a 2021 deferred-prosecution agreement, which stipulated that Boeing had to pay $2.5 billion — mostly to the victims' families — and agree to strengthen its safety and compliance program.
The two crashes, which involved its Max 8 models, killed a combined 346 people.
A representative for Airbus did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.