While the aerospace industry took a massive hit during the height of the pandemic, it is steadily bouncing back. There are a number of key trends affecting the industry today and likely for the future—with innovation and cost-saving techniques at the forefront.
Precision Converting has partnered with 3M to develop a revolutionary new aircraft painting kit designed to increase efficiencies and decrease operational costs during the painting or re-painting process. In this whitepaper, we’ll explore the current state of the aerospace industry and how Precision Converting can help deliver cost-saving innovation for one key operational process.
Aerospace Trends And Projections
As the world came to a halt nearly overnight, 2020 marked one of the worst years on record for the aerospace industry. Supply chain and other commercial interests shuttered, consumer travel became virtually non-existent, and many of the world’s airline manufacturers sent their fleet into storage.
Two years on, the industry has not quite rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, but all the signs are positive. According to PWC’s Global Aerospace and Defense: Annual Industry Performance and Outlook for 2022, industry revenue is up 4% to $712 billion, deal value has doubled to $100+ billion, and $62 billion of operating profit marks a 136% increase compared to 2020.
There are a number of trends fueling growth and affecting the industry into 2022 and beyond:
Consumer travel: With the pandemic slowly fading away and companies reducing or eliminating mask mandates, consumer travel is rocketing back. PWC notes that RPKs are rising steadily in 2022, with total consumer traffic in February up 115.9% compared to last year’s numbers. They note that while an increase in consumer travel is imminent, full recovery to pre-pandemic levels of travel is estimated to occur in 2023 or 2024. Adding a dash of uncertainty to those numbers is the recent chaos with flight cancellations, staffing shortages and other factors inconveniencing travelers.
Increase in air plane manufacturing: A solid indicator to determine the status of the aerospace industry is to take a look at pending orders and deliveries from some of the top airline manufacturers. According to the numbers provided by PWC, Boeing delivered more than double the amount of aircraft in 2021 compared to 2020, while Airbus saw an 89% increase in net orders.
Decarbonization efforts: Worldwide decarbonization efforts aren’t simply restricted to the oil and gas industry. After being called upon b y the public in the early part of the decade to lower emissions, eco-friendly innovations are on the mind of man y of the industries’ top players. In one example, Airbus has announced three concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft— a product they hope will come to fruition by 2035.
Move forward with North America's largest AS9120 supplier
