Aerospace Ready For Takeoff

The idea of flight has entranced mankind since the dawn of time. In the Middle Ages, for instance, Armen Firman strapped wings to himself and jumped off a tower in Cordoba in 852 AD.

- Ong Xiang Hong

In China, man-carrying kites were the method of choice. But it wasn’t until 1783 when the Montgolfier brothers launched a manned hot-air balloon that man finally took off – and landed safely.

Throughout the 19th century, various engineers experimented successfully with gliders, and experiments with compressed air and steam engines attempted to produce self-powered flight with limited success. But when two brothers in America took off using a gasoline engine strapped to a wooden glider, the age of aviation thus well and truly begun.

Indeed, modern airliners are veritable leviathans compared to the Wright Brothers’ Flyer I, which took off 115 years ago from the windy plains of Kitty Hawk. The wingspan of a Boeing 747-8, for instance, is 68.4 metres – considerably longer than the 36 metres achieved by the Wright Brothers’ maiden flight. Oceans have been bridged by the commercial aviation industry, shuttling millions of people around the globe in hours instead of days by ship. Particularly, the Atlantic Ocean is criss-crossed so frequently between America and Europe that it’s referred to as ‘the pond’.

But to do so safely and efficiently, commercial aviation has evolved a supply chain that spans the globe. The maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market has also expanded rapidly along with the rise in global aviation demand. A decade ago, the commercial aviation sector was bleeding due to record high oil prices, dampened demand, and cutthroat competition from low-cost carriers. Now though, increasing flight demand from Asia (especially China), lower oil prices, and full-service carriers cracking the corporate and long-haul travel have led to a resurgence in the aviation market. At the same time, the boom in electronic and mobile commerce has increased air-freight volumes as consumers order goods across borders, demanding speedy delivery.