The International Air Transport Association has announced that aircraft delivery shortfalls have hit 5,300 units.
This substantial deficit, stemming from accumulated losses in deliveries over the past five years and a record-high order backlog, is projected to sustain pressure on the industry until 2034.
IATA’s 2025 analysis of aerospace supply chain bottlenecks revealed that the order backlog has exceeded 17,000 aircraft. This number represents almost 60 per cent of the currently active fleet globally.
The airline trade association indicated that while the rate of new aircraft deliveries is expected to improve in late 2025 and production might gather pace in 2026, the level of demand could continue to surpass the available supply of both aircraft and engines.
Impact on Airlines and Travellers
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, addressed the consequences of the crisis on airlines and travellers, saying: “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.”
He further emphasized the broader economic and customer-related impact: “Airlines are missing opportunities to strengthen their top-line, improve their environmental performance, and serve customers. Meanwhile, travellers 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.”
IATA identified several factors worsening the delivery delays. These include airframe production outpacing engine production and longer timelines for new aircraft certification. Tariffs on metals and electronics due to US-China trade tensions have exacerbated certain supply bottlenecks and driven up maintenance costs. The association added that “a shortage of skilled labour, especially in engine and component manufacturing, is constraining production ramp-up plans.”
The report also highlighted the inherent risks in the supply network’s design, stating: “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.”
To accelerate the path to solutions, IATA advocated for several actions. They proposed the need to “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.”
Furthermore, IATA recommended measures to improve transparency and efficiency, suggesting to “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.”
The association called for greater utilization of technological insights: “Use data more extensively in leveraging predictive maintenance insights, pooling spare parts, and creating shared maintenance data platforms to optimize inventory and reduce downtime.”
Finally, IATA stressed the need to expand industry capacity: “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.”
