A STUDY by Cargo Facts Consulting (CFC) predicts that the global freighter fleet will expand by 2,800 units and the turboprop/RJ freighter fleet will add 500 units by 2037. In addition to growth, three-quarters of today's fleet of 1,700 freighters will be retired over the next 20 years, leading to an overall requirement for the addition of 3,000 freighters (an average of roughly 150 added units per year). Those 150 units will consist of 30 turboprops/RJs, 60 narrowbody jets and 60 widebody jets. The total includes both production freighters and passenger to freighter aircraft conversions. The forecast takes into account an assessment of new-build freighter production, passenger-to-freighter conversion activity, and the retirement of freighters from the existing freighter fleet, reported Seattle's Cargo Facts. The forecast is based on average annual growth in air cargo demand of four per cent per year. That figure is below the nine per cent growth reported by IATA for 2017 but it is above the roughly three per cent annual growth in demand registered since 2000. Cargo Facts Consulting (formerly known as Air Cargo Management Group) is an aviation consulting firm specialising in the freighter aircraft, air freight and express businesses.