Aerospace supply chains must double in size over next decade: Boeing

Boeing has given a signal that the supply chain is improving and getting healthier in the world of aerospace manufacturing, while capacity remains the defining issue for the global air cargo industry. 

What's the most important part of an aeroplane?

“It's the part that you don't have”, says Darren Hulst, Vice President Commercial Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

“There's never a perfect day, because there are so many components that go into an aeroplane.”

He pointed out that the supply chain is healthier and is improving, but it's a never-ending journey because of the production rate requirements.

He was speaking during a fireside chat with Silk Way West Airlines' Wolfgang Meier and The Wicks Group's Glenn Wicksat at Caspian Air Cargo Summit 2025 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“In the last year, we, as an industry, including Airbus and other competitors, delivered about as many aeroplanes to the industry as we delivered in 2013,” he says. 

“But," he added, "the industry is 60% larger.”

“And so our work with suppliers is to educate them about the reality that as an ecosystem, we need to be twice the size of what we were before the pandemic over the course of the next decade.”

“Some of the things that we've done over the last year include putting more of our people with our tier one and tier two suppliers to make sure the quality and the planning was adequate to support our needs, as well as making sure that we had the appropriate oversight to make sure that the supply components coming into our factories were the right quality at the right time, to make sure that the work was done in place and to the right standard to result in the deliveries that we've seen executed over the course of the last eight or nine months.”

Currently, global air trade isn’t spectacular in overall volume, about 5–10 percent growth year-to-date, but e-commerce continues to reshape the market.

Marco Bloemen, Managing Director of Aevean, the boutique aviation and logistics strategy consulting firm backed by Atlas Air Worldwide, pointed out that in 2024, we had close to 5 million tonnes of e-commerce shipments, compared to 23 million tonnes of traditional air freight.

“That share is growing steadily. Even in the US, despite economic headwinds, e-commerce is expanding at an 18 percent annual growth rate,” as he was speaking at the same conference.

“On China–Europe lanes, e-commerce’s share has surged from 20 percent in 2022 to about 40 percent today,” he added.

What about the capacity?

Is that also growing?

Not really.

If we step back to 2019, the picture was very different. At that time, cargo capacity deliveries (both dedicated freighters and bellyhold space) were outpacing orders. More cargo space was entering the market than had been anticipated, creating a relatively balanced environment.

“Compared to 2019, we're at zero percent growth rate. A fair amount of widebody capacity has been deployed within China, so we cannot use it for the International space, and freighters are still trying to do the best they can,” says Bloemen.

Then came Covid-19, which disrupted everything.

Orders for cargo aircraft surged during the pandemic as airlines and logistics companies scrambled to secure space. But actual deliveries lagged far behind due to production bottlenecks, supply chain disruptions, and the shifting economics of the aviation industry.

“Fast forward to 2024 and 2025: We are seeing 60 percent less cargo capacity being delivered compared to 2019. The first half of 2025 has remained at these low delivery levels,” noted Bloemen.

In 2019, 343 widebodies were delivered (adding significant bellyhold space) alongside 55 freighters.

In 2024, by contrast, only 130 widebodies were delivered, plus 29 freighters, less than half of 2019 levels.

As he distils it down, “It's going to continue. We're going to see a shortage of capacity in the years to come.”

And what about the 27 freighters Boeing delivered this year till June 2025?

“The 27 freighters that we've seen so far, half of those go to Aerologic, FedEx and UPS. They're going to the integrator business. So that's another reason for tighter supply,” explains Bloemen.

He also analysed where this capacity is being deployed.

“They are being deployed in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. If we look at where all that capacity may come in the years to come, it's the Middle East. So basically, the capacity is moving east,” says Bloemen.

Boeing has delivered a total of 34 freighters, which include 26 Boeing 777 freighters and 8 Boeing 767 freighters, according to its Orders and Deliveries data as of August 31, 2025. This indicates that through July and August, it delivered 7 additional freighters, comprising both the B777F and B767 models.