According to the 2014 Global Market Forecast by Airbus and Boeing’s 2014 Current Market Outlook, in the next 20 years 29,000-36,000 new planes will be needed to replace older, less efficient airplanes and to grow existing fleets. Expansion of emerging-market economies, such as China, will foster a growing need for fast, efficient transport of goods, and demand for higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon emissions remains high, especially in the U.S. and China. Emerging markets such as Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Russia further bolster this demand. A projected 5% growth of the industry year over year, and increased competition from Canada and Europe have created opportunity for original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s) and companies supplying aircraft manufacturing.
In 2014, the FAA will issue new regulations for the integration of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) into the National Air Space. According to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) 2013 report “The Economic Impact of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the Unites States”, the UAS industry will have an economic impact of over $82 billion from 2015-2025. Historically this effort has been led primarily by the U.S. Department of Defense, but offers promising commercial opportunity as an emerging aerospace market. UAS commercialization has been focused in the oil and gas industry, wild land fire applications, precision agriculture, law enforcement, wildlife and environmental monitoring, remote infrastructure monitoring, search and rescue (SAR), and geographic information systems (GIS).
Check back on Thursday to find out Idaho’s solution to the Aerospace Industry’s opportunity, challenges, and current landscape.