Honeywell lifts 10-year business jet delivery forecast by 4.4%

Honeywell Aerospace has raised its ten-year business jet delivery forecast and now predicts airframers will hand over 9,950 new aircraft through 2035. The figure appears in the company's 2026 Global Business Aviation Outlook, released on 19 October ahead of the NBAA-BACE trade show in Las Vegas.

Compared on the same basis, the revision is up 4.4% from last year's outlook. That report put ten-year demand at 8,500 aircraft, but the number left out personal jets. This year's edition adds those and business turboprops, covering a wider slice of the market.

Kevin Schwab, a strategic planning manager at Honeywell, said aircraft are in short supply relative to demand. He pointed to wealth creation tied to artificial intelligence as a driver of current growth and said the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals is rising partly because of the AI and wider technology boom.

According to Schwab, Honeywell expects the business jet fleet to expand by 29% over the next decade, faster than in the previous ten years. Businesses are performing well, he said, which generally points to strong demand, and he described business aviation as extremely sticky.

The outlook acknowledges headwinds, including conflict in the Middle East, elevated interest rates and higher fuel prices. Even so, Honeywell judges broad economic trends to be positive. The forecast covers everything from small personal jets such as the Cirrus SF50 Vision to the largest-cabin, longest-range models.