Commercial aviation sector poised for growth, say industry experts

TDT | Manama                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

Staff Reporter

After two years of struggling owing to the pandemic crisis, industry experts say that the commercial aviation sector is poised for substantial growth.  They say there has been a sharp increase in the passenger and cargo businesses for almost all major global airlines, hinting a great comeback for the sector. 

The sector’s growing momentum was reflected at Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) 2022 by the presence of Gulf Air Boeing 787 aircraft and Emirates Airbus A-380.     Speaking to The Daily Tribune, William Jake, aviation expert, said that the commercial aviation sector is booming, and that boom is very much happening in the Mideast region. 

“Travel and tourism has picked up really well in this post-pandemic season. If you see, Dubai alone saw over 10 million tourists from across the world during the last eight months.” Mr William said 2021 was a year of recovery for the commercial plane makers.

“The current year is well underway to be another year of recovery and growth for the commercial manufacturing industry, although there are supply chain challenges.” However, he said, there are many things to wait and watch.

“The Russian-Ukraine conflict is something which could prove risky for the global commercial aviation industry. If the conflict gets aggravated, it would affect travel and tourism across Europe and that wouldn’t be a good sign.” 

He also pointed out that the two biggest commercial plane makers - Boeing and Airbus still have a long way to go before the sales, deliveries and orders are back to the pre-pandemic levels.   In 2021, Boeing delivered 340 aircraft, compared to 157 in 2020 and 380 in 2019. Boeing’s last “normal” year was 2018, before COVID-19, when it delivered 806 jets, a level that will likely not be recaptured before 2025, according to industry experts. 

Last year, Airbus delivered 611 aircraft and won the first place in the global market for the third year in a row. Deliveries increased from 566 in 2020 but remain well below the European firm’s all-time record high of 863 shipments in 2019. 

“Airbus is expected to retain the deliveries lead for the foreseeable future due to the company’s comfortable backlog lead over its American rival,” the experts observe. Prior to 2019, Boeing had out-delivered Airbus every year since 2012. 

An aviation education expert based in Dubai said the employment scenario also improved during the end of last year in the commercial aviation sector. “Definitely the employment generation remained sluggish in 2020 and first half of 2021. But that has changed now. 

“Since the end of 2021, there has been a huge global demand for commercial pilots, ground engineers, ground services experts, air traffic controllers and cabin crew. I remain bullish regarding the sector for the next five years unless a serious recession trickles down into the industry.”