Avionics Digital Edition

COVID-19, Labor Force and Supply Chain

How will the lingering effects of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and ongoing labor/supply chain issues impact aviation in 2022?

With the global aviation industry already facing a number of internal and external challenges ranging from the lingering impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions and supply chain shortages, Russia's invasion of the Ukraine in February throws another unknown into the mix. As of the time this issue was published, the United States has become the latest country to close its airspace to Russian-operated aircraft, following a similar move by the European Union and a number of other major flight information regions (FIRs) around the world.

While there is no way of predicting what the long-term impact of the conflict will be, it is a new industry factor that we'll be monitoring more along with our Access Intelligence sister publications Aircraft Value News and Defense Daily. On that note, this month's print edition replaces our scheduled feature on 5G C-Band with some of the latest commercial aircraft aftermarket value updates compiled by Paul Leighton, the editor of Aircraft Value News, with a focus on changes and trends around commercial narrow and wide body aircraft models.

Under the theme of this month's issue, our assistant editor Jessica Reed provides analysis of some aviation industry trends around demand for new aircraft maintenance technicians. Through interviews with the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) and several other industry associations, her article presents a look at some of the factors causing increased demand for new maintenance technicians. The number of aviation maintenance workers expected to retire in the near future is one unique challenge, with up to 80% of the existing U.S.-based workforce set to retire in the next five or six years.

Elsewhere in this issue, we profile two of the largest aircraft maintenance services providers in the U.S., AAR Corp., and FEAM. Both companies are in a prime position to capture growth in demand for commercial aftermarket maintenance services, especially as fleet utilization rates increase with domestic air travel passenger demand on an upswing at the start of 2022. Aaron Karp is also a contributor in this issue with a look at how the aviation industry is adjusting to supply chain challenges and shortages right now. Boston Consulting Group provides some strategies for airlines to consider in adjusting to supply chain challenges.

What did we miss? Email me your thoughts on what we should cover in upcoming issues at wbellamy@accessintel.com. Thanks for reading!