You can set your watch to it. Global airline demand, measured by RPK traffic, doubles every 15 years. It did so during the past 15 years. It did so in the 15 years prior. And it’s forecast to do so again in the next 15 years. In 1960, 100m people travelled by air, according to Boeing. The number today is fast approaching four billion. In 20 years, IATA thinks, the figure will top 7b. Population growth, economic growth, deregulation, new aircraft technologies, new airline business models… all were instrumental in driving the industry’s phenomenal growth, and they likely will be…
