27  Fleet size

Release

10.0.3

This input presents the number of aircraft, per type, operating in Europe.

Table 27.1 shows the top 30 civil aircraft operating in 2022 in the airspace controlled by the EUROCONTROL Network Manager, by aircraft type and number of aircraft.

Table 27.1:

Top 30 civil aircraft operating in NM area
Aircraft type Number of aircraft Number of flights Proportion of aircraft Cumulative Proportion of flights Cumulative
B738 1,705 1,722,929 7.43% 7.43% 18.96% 18.96%
A320 1,569 1,421,804 6.84% 14.27% 15.64% 34.60%
B77W 712 164,394 3.10% 17.37% 1.81% 36.41%
GLF5 627 15,601 2.73% 20.10% 0.17% 36.58%
GLEX 565 30,789 2.46% 22.56% 0.34% 36.92%
A20N 557 461,640 2.43% 24.99% 5.08% 42.00%
B789 508 136,468 2.21% 27.20% 1.50% 43.50%
A21N 499 300,283 2.17% 29.38% 3.30% 46.80%
A319 478 515,513 2.08% 31.46% 5.67% 52.47%
A321 473 372,532 2.06% 33.52% 4.10% 56.57%
GLF4 454 9,475 1.98% 35.50% 0.10% 56.68%
CL60 443 24,016 1.93% 37.43% 0.26% 56.94%
DA42 436 53,303 1.90% 39.33% 0.59% 57.53%
GLF6 429 13,921 1.87% 41.20% 0.15% 57.68%
A333 418 129,940 1.82% 43.02% 1.43% 59.11%
B763 384 65,906 1.67% 44.70% 0.73% 59.84%
A359 368 78,582 1.60% 46.30% 0.86% 60.70%
B38M 365 271,476 1.59% 47.89% 2.99% 63.69%
PC12 358 55,886 1.56% 49.45% 0.61% 64.30%
A332 352 86,506 1.53% 50.98% 0.95% 65.25%
F900 295 10,078 1.29% 52.27% 0.11% 65.37%
B788 294 80,970 1.28% 53.55% 0.89% 66.26%
F2TH 284 27,439 1.24% 54.79% 0.30% 66.56%
B77L 258 69,049 1.12% 55.91% 0.76% 67.32%
B744 254 39,504 1.11% 57.02% 0.43% 67.75%
FA7X 253 13,650 1.10% 58.12% 0.15% 67.90%
B772 240 66,430 1.05% 59.17% 0.73% 68.63%
PA34 239 11,781 1.04% 60.21% 0.13% 68.76%
GL5T 213 10,043 0.93% 61.14% 0.11% 68.87%
BE20 206 47,688 0.90% 62.04% 0.52% 69.40%
Other types 8,712 2,781,391 37.96% 100.00% 30.60% 100.00%
Total 22,948 9,088,987 100.00% NA 100.00% NA
Source: EUROCONTROL Network Manager flight plans, 2022

The 22,948 civil aircraft in Table 27.1 include 500 unique aircraft types. The top 30 aircraft types listed above represent approximately 62% of the total fleet, while 69% of flights are operated by the 300 most used aircraft types.

Table 27.2 shows the number of military aircraft by category in 2023 vs 2019 in Europe, USA, and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).[1]

Table 27.2:

Military aircraft in 2023 vs 2019
Aircraft type Europe 2019 Europe 2023 USA 2019 USA 2023 CIS 2019 CIS 2023
Combat aircraft  2,066 2,008 2,879 2,820 1,936 1,864
Special Mission1 245 245 780 758 125 147
Tanker 56 49 592 638 19 19
Transport 648 588 979 990 443 484
Combat helicopter 3,359 3,328 5,555 5,704 1,807 1,915
Training aircraft/helicopters 2,201 1,912 2,996 2,766 574 624
Total military fleet 8,575 8,130 13,781 13,676 4,904 5,053
% Difference 2023 vs 2019 NA −5.19% NA −0.76% NA 3.04%
Source: FlightGlobal (2023) 2023 World Air Forces directory
1 Special Mission Aircraft are those platforms specifically developed to undertake an over-battlefield role by utilization of advanced onboard equipment or specialized trait

Table 27.3 shows the fleet size of IFR helicopters in Europe for years 2011/2012.

Table 27.3:

IFR helicopter fleet
Region Units
Europe and Eastern Europe 2,208
CIS countries 1,312
Total 3,520
Source: FlightGlobal HELICAS 2011/2012 data analysed by the European Helicopter Association

Table 27.4 estimates the number of airframes operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in ECAC region.

Table 27.4:

Number of VFR airframes in ECAC
Aircraft Units
Aeroplanes 20,329
Helicopters 3,532
Gliders 18,555
Balloons 6,623
Total 49,039
Source: International Registry of Civil Aircraft (IRCA), 2014 and Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA) (2015)

27.1 Other possible sources - forward-looking

The Airbus Global Market Forecast for 2022-2041 presents a forward-looking view of the evolution of the air transport sector, accounting for factors such as demographic and economic growth, tourism trends, oil prices, the development of new and existing routes, and ultimately highlighting demand for aircraft covering the spectrum of sizes from 100 seats to the very largest aircraft of over 500 seats.

Figure 27.1: Airbus commercial aircraft demand 2022-2041 [2]

As shown in Figure 27.1, for the years 2022-2041, Airbus forecasts a demand for 39,490 new or replacement commercial aircraft worldwide, of which 8,140 units (21%) are for Europe/CIS regions. Asia-Pacific, China and the US are driving the growth, while single-aisle aircraft dominate the demand (>80%).

Figure 27.2 shows the Boeing forecast demand for new aircraft by category and world regions with a focus on single-aisle aircraft which leads the market growth.

Figure 27.2: Boeing commercial aircraft demand 2022-2041 [3]

For the same period (2022-2041), Boeing forecasts a global demand for 40,170 new or replacement commercial aircraft of which 8,550 units (21%) are for Europe. Europe, Asia-Pacific, US and China are the drivers for growth owing to the demand for single-aisle aircraft which represents between 69% (in US) and 82% (in Europe) of the total fleet forecast.

27.3 References

[1]
FlightGlobal, “2023 World Air Forces directory,” 2023 [Online]. Available: https://www.flightglobal.com/reports/2023-world-air-forces-directory/151088.article
[2]
Stan Shparberg, Bob Lange, “Global Market Forecast 2022-2041,” 2022 [Online]. Available: https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/market/global-market-forecast
[3]
Boeing, “Commercial Market Outlook 2022.” [Online]. Available: https://www.boeing.com/commercial/market/commercial-market-outlook/index.page#/overview