91 Aviation mega cities by 2033

A recent presentation by Airbus at the Borders International Conference stated that by 2033, there will be 91 ‘Aviation Mega Cities’ in the world.

This would account for 2.2 million daily long haul passengers traffic to, from and via these super hubs. Paul Moultrie, head of marketing at Airbus Middle East said these ‘Aviation Mega Cities’ will account for 95% of long-haul traffic in the world, which by 2020 will have a total population of 9.3 bn.

This will be major growth in 10 years – there were only 42 Aviation Mega Cities in 2013 with 0.8 m daily long-haul traffic and 90% of long haul traffic on routes to, from and via these cities. The economic contribution of aviation mega cities will increase to 35% of the world GDP in 2033, up from 22% recorded in 2013.

The company also unveiled its 2050 vision for ‘smarter skies’ where in it envisages more flights, fewer emissions and quicker passenger journey times. The research suggested that every flight in the world could on average be around 13 minutes shorter. This would save around nine m tonnes of excess fuel annually, which equates to over 28 m tonnes of avoidable CO2 emissions. This would result in a saving of over 500 m hours of excess flight time on board an aircraft.