Boeing looked into its crystal ball and predicted 50,000 commercial planes in the air by 2044

Published on Jul 28, 2025 at 8:50 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson

Last updated on Jul 29, 2025 at 11:52 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by Emma Matthews

Boeing has predicted that there will be 50,000 commercial planes flying in the air by 2044.

To put that in perspective, this would represent a rise of 83 percent from today’s figures.

This prediction was made in the Commercial Market Outlook, which gave us an idea of what the skies may look like two decades from now.

It’s all up from there, as more markets build more infrastructure and the global middle class grows in size.

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The future of airlines: Boeing predicts there will be 50,000 commercial planes in the skies by 2044

The report predicted that there will be 50,000 commercial planes in operation by 2044, just 19 years away.

But it’s not just the figure that is set to change in the coming years.

The distribution of said aircraft is going to become a lot more diversified.

Right now, North America is dominating with 30 percent of the world’s non-military aircraft.

Eurasia has 25 percent, China has 16 percent, and everyone else is at 6 percent or less.

By 2044, Boeing predicted that North America, Eurasia, and China would all have about 20 percent each.

Southeast Asia is where most of the growth will be happening, doubling its relative share to 10 percent.

Boeing also predicted that 76 percent of the new planes will be narrow-body single-aisle designs, which will represent 72 percent of the overall total.

Right now, it sits at 66 percent of the total.

The report also indicated that Chinese domestic flights would be the most popular in the world at that point, taking the top spot from US domestic flights.

Whether or not Chinese-America flights will increase in popularity remains to be seen.

Not even Boeing’s report is able to predict the fluctuations of geopolitics in the next two decades.

The world of airplanes is always changing

If there’s one thing you can count on with the world of aviation, it’s fast-moving change.

Qatar Airways just added Starlink and now has the world’s fastest Wi-Fi in the sky, while NASA is working on a no-boom supersonic flight.

As far as Boeing’s prediction goes, it is something of a waiting game.

Check back with this article in 19 years and see how accurate it is.

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Ben Thompson is a Senior Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Ben has more than four years experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a Multimedia Journalism degree from News Associates. Ben specializes in writing about Teslas, tech and celebrity car collections.