Demand for aircraft is sky-high world over

Duba: Airlines around the world are on a capacity expansion mode amid growing travel demand, with Airbus and Boeing getting a flurry of aircraft orders just this month.

German carrier Lufthansa and British low-cost airline EasyJet are acquiring nearly 400 additional aircraft in multibillion-dollar deals announced on Tuesday.

With a current fleet of more than 700 commercial aircraft, Lufthansa said in a statement it just placed $9 billion in firm orders for 80 new short- and medium-haul jets from the two manufacturers and agreed on a further 120 purchasing options.

Airbus also said EasyJet has just confirmed a firm order for 157 additional A320neo Family aircraft following shareholder approval.

Just a few days ago, Brazil’s Azul Linhas Aereas disclosed a firm order for four additional A330-900 from Airbus, while Turkish Airlines is expanding its fleet with an order for 220 Airbus aircraft. On December 12, the manufacturer also confirmed a firm order for 100 A321neo jets from international leasing firm Avolon.

Record revenues

Airlines are expected to post $25.7 billion in net profits in 2024, a slight improvement over the $23.3 billion net earnings forecast for 2023 on the back of record revenues, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported early this month.

Operating profits are expected to jump to $49.3 billion next year from $40.7 billion this year, while total revenues will grow 7.6% year over year to a record $964 billion.

Airlines are on track to end the year with a 9.8% year-on-year growth in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), more than double the pre-pandemic growth trend.

“The high demand for travel, coupled with limited capacity due to persistent supply chain issues continues to create supply and demand conditions supporting yield growth,” IATA said.