(Minews) - Aerospace growth is expected to remain “vibrant” in both the near and the long term, according to a senior executive at aluminium producer Alcoa Inc.
Olivier Jarrault, group president of the US aluminium producer’s Engineered Products & Solutions (EPS) division, anticipates strong orders and deliveries, driven by a continuing rise in demand for travel and an aging aircraft fleet.
Demand for aircraft now and in the future has already created a backlog of more than nine years’-worth of production, based on 2013 rates, Jarrault added.
Jarrault, who was speaking at a Cowen & Co conference in New York, USA, noted that compound annual growth in the commercial airline fleet was 3.6% in 2012, with 20,000 planes in operation.
But 9,000 of those planes will be replaced between now and 2022, and a further 9,000 planes will be built over the same period, taking the total number of commercial planes to 17,940, he said.
A further 35,280 planes will be built between 2022 and 2032, of which 21,000 will be new planes and 14,000 will be replacement aircraft. The existing fleet of active aircraft in 2012 will shrink to 6,000 planes, he forecast.
In 2013, aerospace accounted for 17% of Alcoa revenues. More than 90% of all alloys flying on today’s aircraft were developed by Alcoa, one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium.
But it is not all about aluminium. Around 60% of Alcoa aerospace revenues comes from non-aluminium materials, Jarrault noted.
“Innovation is one of the key components of the Alcoa businesses, and has allowed it to gain a strong position in both aircraft intensive in aluminium as well as carbon fibre-reinforced plastic fastened panels,” he told the conference.
The company also has a joint venture with Russia’s VSMPO, the world’s largest manufacturer of titanium ingots and forged products.
Alcoa already operates one of the two largest 75,000-tonne hydraulic vertical forging presses in Russia at its Samara operation.
The partnership with VSMPO will manufacture large forged products such as landing gear beams and wing components at Samara.
