Airframers Set To Squeeze Suppliers as Backlogs Grow
Airbus A320/A320neo backlogs run into 2020. (Photo: Airbus)
Airbus A320/A320neo backlogs run into 2020. (Photo: Airbus)

With airliner order backlogs at Airbus and Boeing running to five or six years, the problem of keeping the complex global supply chain on track and in sequence is, some might say, a nice problem to have. But a problem it is, nonetheless, because while it suits the world’s dominant airframers to keep cash-yielding deliveries flowing quickly, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it suits suppliers equally well to ramp up output rates with the investment spikes this requires.