Life in an old aircraft

摘要

An ageing fleet and swelling demand for widebody freighters means that the market is healthy for 747 freighters. Both Boeing and the Israeli aerospace manufacturer Bedek have launched conversion programmes. Aircraft Economics looks at their prospects. The 747 is being edged out of the passenger markets it used to rule by newer Airbus and Boeing widebodies, but its future as a freighter looks bright. Over the next 20 years world freight traffic will more than triple in volume. The rise will stem from increasing exports of bulky, time-sensitive high-tech goods worldwide, and the continuing rapid growth of export-oriented economies in China and elsewhere in East Asia. These factors will combine to create continually rising demand for widebody freighters.