Although air travel has been hit hard by the pandemic, we see a number of long-term trends that are worth monitoring. To start, the average age of aircrafts in the U.S. has been steadily rising over the past few years, and demand for aircrafts is expected to outgrow supply, with backlogs for both narrow and wide-body aircrafts extremely elevated relative to deliveries and orders at the moment.
While demand is rising, airlines are expected to reduce the number of different types of aircrafts that they fly. Furthermore, the share of the global fleet that is leased continues to rise. This points to opportunity in the sector, particularly for asset owners, as the global economy moves beyond COVID.