Integrity-EDS Articles

Check out the Jan. 10 edition of What's Trending in Aerospace, where editors and contributors for Avionics International bring you some of the latest headlines happening across the global aerospace industry.

The aerospace industry took a substantial hit over the past year as air travel dropped amid COVID-19. In April, passenger numbers in the U.S. fell below 100,000 a day, compared to numbers exceeding 2 million in 2019. This drop has many concerned about the aerospace industry outlook for the next few years.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted society and ordinary citizens on a scale not seen since the Second World War. Whole continents have been paralyzed, economies have been shut down, and civil rights have been restricted in an effort to fight the virus. One aspect of this society-wide shock has been the deep impact the pandemic is having on industries such as aerospace.

There’s an old saying that an “airplane is greater than the sum of its parts” – and that largely has to do with the incredible workforce that designs and builds them. For over 100 years, aerospace workers have built the unimaginable, supporting America’s economy and strengthening our security. Sadly today, this industry is also one of the most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington state’s aerospace industry has certainly seen better years than 2020. In addition to the economic shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic all but freezing most airline travel, Boeing in March grounded its 737 fleet produced in Renton after one of the planes crashed. The company then announced this month that it will be consolidating its Dreamliner production in South Carolina rather than continue at its Everett plant.

WASHINGTON — Two months after disclosing the existence of a next-generation fighter jet demonstrator, the U.S. Air Force is staying mum on which company may have built it. But one thing is for sure: Classified aviation programs are on the rise, and opportunities abound for the three major American defense aerospace primes — Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.