Aviation industry still has 20-25 years of super-speed growth, says top Mubadala official

Dubai: Whatever be the short-term worries set off by COVID-19, the fundamentals of the aerospace industry are “very strong” for the next 20 to 25 years, according to the CEO of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala-owned Strata Manufacturing.

“We are expecting anywhere between 30,000 to 40,000 aircraft to be sold - this is driven by the fact that we have more people moving from low-income segments to mid-income,” said Ismail Abdulla at the Global Aerospace Summit, which is held virtually. “This means  OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) need to address the new demand."

Strata manufactures aircraft parts and components and counts Boeing and Airbus as its customers. Abdullah also touched upon an important talking point in the global aviation industry right now: stick with hub-and-spoke model or go point-to-point?

Need for a shift

The momentum is favoring the latter, according to Strata’s chief. This is because China and Russia are developing single-aisle passenger jets, challenging the dominance of jumbo aircraft that were designed to shuttle large numbers of passengers between global hubs. “My belief is that the jury is still out - there is no reason why both models for airlines cannot coexist,” said Abdulla.

Electric journey

Abdulla believes an electric aircraft could be a possibility in the near future. However, “we will not be seeing something that is used widely for intercontinental and even regional flights. We could see some niche, addressable markets for such an aircraft.”

Several companies have been experimenting with the technology. Last week, Rolls-Royce said it was ground-testing the technology that will power the fastest all-electric plane. It has been tested on a full-scale replica of the plane’s core, called an ‘ionBird’, and includes a 500hp electric powertrain and a battery with enough energy to supply 250 homes.