The International Air Transport Association (IATA) updated its analysis of aerospace supply chain bottlenecks noting that aircraft availability remains one of the most significant constraints on industry growth in its just released global outlook.
While deliveries of new aircraft began to pick up in late 2025 and production is expected to accelerate in 2026, demand is forecast to outstrip the availability of aircraft and engines. The normalization of the structural mismatch between airline requirements and production capacity is unlikely before 2031-2034 due to irreversible losses on deliveries over the past five years and a record-high order backlog.
Notable points on the current situation include:
• Delivery shortfalls now total at least 5,300 aircraft.
• The order backlog has surpassed 17,000 aircraft, a number equal to almost 60% of the active fleet. Historically, this ratio was steady at around 30-40%. This backlog is equivalent to nearly 12 years of the current production capacity.
• The average fleet age has risen to 15.1 years (12.8 years for aircraft in the passenger fleet, 19.6 years for cargo aircraft, and 14.5 years for the wide-body fleet).
• Aircraft in storage (for all reasons) exceed 5,000 aircraft, one of the highest levels in history despite the severe shortage of new aircraft.
“Airlines are feeling the impact of the aerospace supply chain challenges across their business. Higher leasing costs, reduced scheduling flexibility, delayed sustainability gains and increased reliance on suboptimal aircraft types are the most obvious challenges. Airlines are missing opportunities to strengthen their top-line, improve their environmental performance and serve customers. Meanwhile travelers are seeing higher costs from the resulting tighter demand/supply conditions. No effort should be spared to accelerate solutions before the impact becomes even more acute,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
As production bottlenecks continue, new challenges and impacts are being revealed:
• Delivery delays are compounded by several factors, including:
o Airframe production is outpacing engine production (which is constrained due to issues with existing engines). This is resulting in newly completed airframes being parked until engines are available.
o Longer timelines for new aircraft certification (from 12-24 months to four or even five years) are delaying entry into production/service, particularly impacting long-haul fleet renewal.
o Tariffs on metals and electronics resulting from US-China trade tensions have worsened some supply bottlenecks and raised some maintenance costs.
o A shortage of skilled labor, especially in engine and component manufacturing, is constraining production ramp-up plans.
o The fragility of the aerospace supply chain network (often reliant on a limited number of suppliers for critical parts) can become an acute constraint amid economic uncertainty, changing tariff regimes and tight labor markets. As a result, even small disruptions can be difficult to resolve and balloon to significant production delays.
• Fuel efficiency improvements are slowing as the fleet ages. Historically, fuel efficiency improved by 2.0% per year, but this slowed to 0.3% in 2025 and is projected at 1.0% for 2026.
• The situation for the air cargo fleet risks evolving:
o Converted aircraft from passenger operations are in short supply as airlines keep them in use for passenger operations longer.
o New-build wide bodies face production delays.
o Older cargo aircraft which have been kept flying longer to compensate for slower fleet renewal will eventually reach hard limits on their useful life.
A recent study by IATA and Oliver Wymann estimated that the cost to the airline industry of supply chain bottlenecks will be more than USD 11 billion in 2025, driven by four main factors:
• Excess fuel costs (~USD 4.2 billion): Airlines are operating older, less fuel-efficient aircraft because new aircraft deliveries are delayed, leading to higher fuel costs.
• Additional maintenance costs (USD 3.1 billion): The global fleet is aging, and older aircraft require more frequent and expensive maintenance.
• Increased engine leasing costs (USD 2.6 billion): Airlines need to lease more engines since engines spend longer on the ground during maintenance. Aircraft lease rates have also risen by 20–30% since 2019.
• Surplus inventory holding costs (USD 1.4 billion): Airlines are stocking more spare parts to mitigate unpredictable supply chain disruptions, increasing inventory costs.
To help expedite solutions, the study pointed to several considerations:
• Open up aftermarket best practices by supporting Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) to be less dependent on OEM-driven commercial licensing models, as well as facilitating access to alternative sourcing for materials and services.
• Enhance supply chain visibility by creating clearer visibility across all supplier levels to spot risks early, reduce bottlenecks and inefficiencies, and use better data and tools to make the whole chain more resilient and reliable.
• Use data more extensively in leveraging predictive maintenance insights, pooling spare parts, and creating shared maintenance data platforms to optimize inventory and reduce downtime.
• Expand repair and parts capacity to accelerate repair approvals, support alternative parts and Used Serviceable Material (USM) solutions, and adopt advanced manufacturing to ease bottlenecks.

SITA and Amadeus, under the patronage of AACO, have joined forces to explore flight-specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions calculations, helping airlines and passengers make more sustainable choices through greater transparency and measurability.

AACO, SITA, and Amadeus have come together to explore how data and technology can bring greater accuracy and transparency to aviation’s sustainability efforts. The initiative represents a concrete step toward helping airlines and passengers make informed decisions based on the environmental impact of air travel, and building the trust needed to support meaningful climate action.
Conscious of the criticality of the challenge, two of aviation’s leading technology providers are working together. The collaboration pairs SITA Eco Mission, which draws on real aircraft performance and operational data to deliver accurate emissions and fuel-burn calculations, with Amadeus Travel Impact Suite, which aggregates carbon emissions calculations from multiple recognized sources and standards. Together, they provide the ecosystem with detailed emissions information so that travelers can make more informed decisions. Their shared goal is to demonstrate how accurate data can support decision-making on sustainable travel and facilitate climate action, such as carbon offsetting.
“We are proud that Amadeus and SITA have joined forces to deliver solutions that help the aviation industry and its customers optimize operational costs while engaging passengers on sustainability through accurate, data-driven transparency,” said Abdul Wahab Teffaha, Secretary General of AACO.

“As two of the industry’s most trusted partners, Amadeus and SITA will deliver state-of-the-art solutions, and their collaboration will play a key role in advancing environmental sustainability and strengthening the bond between airlines and their customers.”
“This partnership reflects the spirit of collaboration our industry needs,” said Yann Cabaret, CEO, SITA for Aircraft.“Trust between passengers and airlines begins with transparency. By combining Amadeus’ travel technology solutions with our operational data, we’re exploring how verified information can give airlines and passengers greater confidence in reporting data related to sustainability. It’s an important first step that shows how major players in the industry can come together to drive real progress.”
“This collaboration adds another trusted emissions calculation source, ensuring the industry has relevant, accurate, and transparent sustainability data. By exploring how verified operational insights can flow into our open, partner-agnostic solution, Travel Impact Suite, we aim to help airlines, travel agencies, corporations, and travelers better understand the environmental impact of each flight. This empowers them to make more informed choices about which flight to book or which climate actions to take, and to report consistently across channels,” said Maher Koubaa, Executive Vice President, Travel Unit, and Managing Director, EMEA, at Amadeus.
This initiative demonstrates how linking data, operations, and passenger engagement can help turn sustainability goals into credible results. It supports airlines as they navigate increasing regulatory complexity and rising costs, highlighting the power of collaboration in addressing shared challenges.
In a world where passengers demand greater clarity, this collaboration shows how collective innovation can move aviation toward a more transparent and sustainable future.

Scheduled commercial flights yesterday commenced at the Gateway International Airport, Iperu, Ogun State.
Governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun, while inaugurating the ValueJet Airlines flight to Abuja on its Bombardier CRJ jet, commended the vision of his predecessors in facilitating the construction of the fastest built airport terminal in the country.
Abiodun said the choice of the location of the airport is not only strategic, but essential in driving the economic development of the gateway state.
He lauded the efforts of the team that delivered the facility, saying such project will boost the socio-economic development of the state.
The governor commended aviation authorities, including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), for ensuring the regulatory requirements were complied with.
He hailed Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, and his team as well as other aviation regulatory bodies for ensuring that all that is required was put to together to accomplish the objective.
Abiodun lauded the efforts of the ValueJet Airlines boss, and other members of the project implementation committee for their hardwork in getting the project ready.
The Ogun State Governor said: “Our vision for Ogun State, which we have encapsulated is to provide a focused and cohesive governance, while creating an enabling environment for public-private sector partnership, which we believe is fundamental to the economic growth of the state and the individual prosperity of every citizen of Ogun State.
“In short, that vision clearly aims to bring more people to live, work and play in Ogun state. So, in helping us in actualise that vision, we were advised on how we must ensure that our multi-modal transportation connects road, rail, air and water.
“This location had been chosen by my predecessors. But, they again confirmed, because they wanted to be passionate about the location of the airport. They again confirmed and validated the fact that this is indeed the location for an airport in the state. “Being almost at the centre point of the state, we came back here and noticed that the land had been encroached on and become a dump site. It was a forest. Today, the journey that started in 2021, and that evolved into the first plane that landed here after the construction of our runway, sometime in February 2023, two years afterwards. It has made us one of the fastest constructed airports. We were given a nice name by the NCAA for private flight operations. That was not the reason why we constructed this airport.
“It was to ensure that we began commercial aviation operations and for both passengers and cargo. And I must say that we’ve gone through all that we needed to do. We have been very deliberate. We have been very intentional. We’ve been very diligent, with faith in the almighty God.
“We have ensured that we’ve left nothing unturned. We’ve put everything into this airport. For our cargo operations, the cargo warehouse is already in place. For security, we have purpose-built offices and accommodation for all the law enforcement architecture. We are even bringing the airport to this premises. We have Nigerian customs.
“In terms of aviation equipment, we brag and beat our chest as having probably one of the best in the country, our instrument landing system is really functional, our runway lights are probably the best category in Nigeria.
“Our control tower is like no other. And you can see this terminal building speaks for itself. We have ensured that we complied with all the required safety protocols.
“I want to thank the almighty God. Because it’s only God that allows you to envision a project and see it to successful completion. I want to thank God for giving us this vision, this very clear vision, that we follow with a lot of passion. Like I always say, when vision meets passion, the result is what you see here. I want to thank all those who have worked very hard on this project. From day one, my commissioner works.
“He came here and did a small ground-breaking. We needed to prove all the naysayers wrong. The commissioner for transport, finance, the contractors, members of my team and our consultants.
“I want to thank the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, because he followed this airport very passionately. Every time I called, he would direct the regulators to be here to check every step to ensure full compliance.”
Also speaking, Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo lauded Ogun State Government for the project, which he said, will add value to the aviation ecosystem.
Najomo said :” He started this thing in 2021. Now, this is the fastest one we have seen in the creation of airports. As a regulator, we made sure that everything was done according to regulations. As such, we did not leave any stone unturned.
“If other states want to do the same, they must make sure they take value from what Ogun State has done. It is one thing to start a project; it is another to see it through and ensure that regulations are followed.”