International Air Transport Association Highlights Unprecedented Strain On The Aerospace Industry As Global Aircraft Backlog Surpasses 17,000, Setting A New Record

Published on October 13, 2025

The world aerospace manufacture is facing an unprecedented situation arsenic nan International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlights nan record-breaking backlog of aircraft, now surpassing 17,000 units. This business signals an alarming strain connected nan full sector, from manufacturers to airlines, owed to accrued demand, proviso concatenation disruptions, and labour shortages. With airlines struggling to meet rider expectations and manufacturing timelines, nan backlog is simply a reflection of increasing tensions betwixt a recovering aerial recreation marketplace and an overwhelmed accumulation capacity. As nan aerospace manufacture confronts this captious juncture, knowing nan underlying causes and nan imaginable semipermanent impacts is important for stakeholders crossed nan aviation ecosystem.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), successful business pinch Oliver Wyman, a world guidance consulting leader and portion of Marsh McLennan (NYSE:MMC), has released a caller associated study titled Reviving nan Commercial Aircraft Supply Chain. The study highlights nan ongoing challenges facing nan aerospace sector’s proviso chain, examines their underlying causes, assesses their effect connected airlines, and proposes actions to beforehand nan industry.

The aerospace proviso concatenation is facing important delays successful nan accumulation of caller craft and parts. As a result, galore airlines are reassessing their fleet strategies and, successful galore cases, extending nan cognition of older aircraft. By 2024, nan world commercialized craft backlog reached an all-time high, exceeding 17,000 planes, a stark summation from nan yearly backlog of astir 13,000 craft betwixt 2010 and 2019.

These delays are projected to costs nan hose manufacture complete $11 cardinal successful 2025, driven by 4 cardinal factors:

• Increased substance costs (~$4.2 billion): The hold successful caller craft deliveries forces airlines to support older, little fuel-efficient planes successful operation, starring to higher substance expenses.
• Rising attraction costs ($3.1 billion): The aging world fleet requires much predominant and costly attraction arsenic older craft are kept successful work longer.
• Higher motor leasing costs ($2.6 billion): Airlines are leasing further engines owed to extended attraction periods, pinch craft lease rates rising by 20–30% since 2019.
• Higher inventory holding costs ($1.4 billion): To mitigate nan unpredictable proviso concatenation disruptions, airlines are purchasing and storing much spare parts, thereby expanding their inventory costs.

In summation to these rising expenses, proviso concatenation disruptions are hindering airlines from deploying capable craft to meet expanding rider demand. In 2024, rider postulation grew by 10.4%, outpacing nan 8.7% capacity summation and pushing load factors to a grounds 83.5%. This upward inclination successful rider request is expected to proceed into 2025.

The study besides points retired that nan aerospace industry’s existent economical model, compounded by geopolitical tensions, shortages successful earthy materials, and tight labour markets, is exacerbating these challenges. To reside these issues, nan study outlines strategical initiatives for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), craft lessors, suppliers, and airlines to reside nan supply-demand spread and fortify resilience wrong nan industry.

“Airlines dangle connected a reliable proviso concatenation to run and turn their fleets efficiently. Now we person unprecedented waits for aircraft, engines and parts and unpredictable transportation schedules. Together these person sent costs spiralling by astatine slightest $11 cardinal for this twelvemonth and constricted nan expertise of airlines to meet user demand. There is nary elemental solution to resolving this problem, but location are respective actions that could supply immoderate relief. To start, opening nan aftermarket would thief by giving airlines greater prime and entree to parts and services. In parallel, greater transparency connected nan authorities of nan proviso concatenation would springiness airlines nan information they request to scheme astir blockages while helping OEMs to easiness underlying bottlenecks,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

The aerospace assemblage has respective cardinal actions to consider:

• Broaden aftermarket practices by reducing reliance connected OEM-driven commercialized licensing models for Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO), and promoting entree to replacement worldly and work sourcing options.
• Improve proviso concatenation transparency by enhancing visibility crossed each supplier tiers to place imaginable risks early, minimize bottlenecks, amended efficiency, and utilize precocious information and devices to fortify nan full chain’s resilience and dependability.
• Harness data-driven insights by utilizing predictive maintenance, optimizing spare parts inventory done pooling, and establishing shared attraction information platforms to trim downtime and heighten inventory management.
• Increase repair and parts capacity to expedite repair approvals, support replacement parts and Used Serviceable Materials (USM), and merge precocious manufacturing techniques to alleviate accumulation bottlenecks.

To instrumentality these strategies, nan first and astir important measurement for participants successful nan commercialized aerospace manufacture is to foster a unified strategical attack among each stakeholders crossed nan proviso chain. The analyzable challenges confronting nan assemblage necessitate collaboration to efficaciously reside craft accumulation and attraction needs.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has raised concerns complete an unprecedented strain connected nan aerospace industry, arsenic nan world craft backlog surpasses 17,000 units. This record-high backlog reflects important challenges, including accrued demand, proviso concatenation issues, and labour shortages, each of which are testing nan industry’s capacity to meet increasing aerial recreation needs.

“Today’s craft fleet is larger, much advanced, and much substance businesslike than ever before,” said Matthew Poitras, Partner successful Oliver Wyman’s Transportation and Advanced Industrials practice. “However, proviso concatenation challenges are impacting airlines and OEMs alike. We spot an opportunity to catalyze an betterment successful proviso concatenation capacity that will use everyone, but this will require corporate steps to reshape nan building of nan aerospace manufacture and activity together connected transparency and talent.”