"We are not at all at the end of the story," Charles Champion, executive vice president of engineering for Airbus, says. "There's still a great future for aviation."
Government vs. Commercial Markets
As technology evolves, so too does the means by which those developments make it into the marketplace.
Parker Hannifin's research and development efforts over the past decade have shifted from catering to the U.S. Department of Defense to focusing more on commercial aerospace.
"In general, you would develop and introduce a new technology on a military aircraft before you would see it migrating into the commercial space," Czaga says. "Our R&D portfolio now has been rebalanced."
That's because there has been less defense spending and more demand on the commercial side. Asia-Pacific airlines alone are forecast to buy nearly 10,000 new passenger and cargo aircraft -- a $1.6 trillion value -- in the next 20 years, which only represents 35% of all new aircraft deliveries for that time period, according to Airbus.
"On the commercial side, there's good growth. That side looks very healthy. The area I'm most concerned about is the military side," OAI's Heil says.
He's worried that with continued DOD funding cuts, research -- a discretionary expense -- will suffer.
"If you cut it, you don't feel the effects until years later," Heil says.
The future success of the industry will depend on manufacturers taking the innovation reins and continuing the development of new technology.
"The good news is if [companies] are successful on the commercial side, they can reinvest some of their profits there into the research side…The leadership of the companies will have to take a long-term view and will have to invest company money in helping make sure they stay technologically ahead of their competitors."
