By Dr John Newnham, fastener engineering consultant, janewnham@btinternet.com
The commercial aerospace industry seems to have broken away from the seven or eight year production cycle of ‘boom and bust’, which appeared for many years to be inevitable in this market sector. At this point in time, there have already been several years of growth in the sector, with production rates continuously being ramped up. A 2016 report by Deloitte, analysing the order backlog of commercial aircraft, shows that at current production rates it would take well over nine years to fill existing orders.(…)