Below is an excerpt of a contributed article published in Industry Week on March 12, 2020.

In case you missed it, a Boeing 747—the “Queen of the Skies”—recently set a record by flying across the Atlantic from New York to London in under 5 hours at over 800 mph. The record was set with the aid of a significant tailwind of approximately 200 mph.

Tier 1 and 2 aerospace suppliers (in both engine and airframe) also have benefited over the past several years from a significant OEM demand tailwind. Dozens of articles have been written about the record boom in the commercial airspace market due to the huge growth of global passenger travel.  The outlook remains strong, assisted by airline travel costs being lower due to industry innovation and productivity improvements.

There are clear signs from the OEMs, however, that headwinds are coming for suppliers–and these signs were occurring even before the coronavirus effects on the economy and air travel took hold.

Read the full article.