Air travel demand soared after a precipitous drop at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it hasn’t let up. Commercial-aerospace OEMs and suppliers are finding it challenging to keep up, senior partner Mike Parkins and coauthors note. New aircraft orders total about 15,700, and filling the record-high open-order backlog would take 13 years at 2023 delivery rates.
Image description:
A square comprising 16,939 dots represents the total number of fulfilled and unfulfilled narrow-body and wide-body commercial aircraft orders in 2023. Within this square, a smaller square comprising 1,236 dots, occupying ~1/13 of the total area, represents the fulfilled commercial aircraft orders in 2023. The remaining 15,703 dots represent the unfulfilled commercial aircraft orders in 2023.
Source: Cirium; International Air Transport Association (IATA); McKinsey Aerospace & Defense Practice.
End of image description.
To read the article, see “Addressing continued turbulence: The commercial-aerospace supply chain,” April 3, 2024.