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Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Strengthen aviation supply chain resilience in Europe with better visibility, scenario planning, and risk management to reduce disruption and improve continuity.

Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Europe’s aviation industry has been under pressure for several years. Pandemic disruption, regional conflicts, and geopolitical uncertainty have exposed long-standing weaknesses that were waiting for the right trigger. The result is not a series of isolated issues, but a set of interconnected challenges across European aviation.

The scale of the problem is clear from the numbers. According to Oliver Wyman and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), supply chain disruptions alone cost airlines more than $11 billion last year. Aircraft backlogs are around 17,500 units, and at current production rates, clearing them would take roughly a decade. Delivery timelines have nearly doubled. Older aircraft are staying in service longer than planned, and the excess fuel costs from ageing fleets alone now exceed $4.2 billion annually.

At the core of this is complexity. A typical aircraft manufacturer relies on more than 200 direct suppliers and over 12,000 indirect ones. That is not a simple supply chain. It is a network. And that network has become more fragile.

Understanding the pressures we face

The drivers of this fragility are not new, but they are becoming harder to ignore. They include:

Geopolitical shocks: When borders close or trade routes are disrupted, critical materials can disappear quickly. The Russia-Ukraine conflict was a stark reminder of how dependent the industry has been on single sources for materials such as titanium. One regional conflict can disrupt global supply chains within weeks.

Supplier consolidation: The industry has consolidated over time, leaving fewer alternatives when something goes wrong. If one supplier is disrupted, the impact is felt much further downstream. That lack of redundancy is a real risk.

The workforce challenge: Training a maintenance technician takes five to six years, so workforce gaps cannot be filled quickly. What stands out most is that two-thirds or more of MRO survey respondents cited a need for better inventory availability and shorter lead times. That is not just a supply issue. It is a network issue.

Concentrated manufacturing: Production often sits in locations exposed to floods, earthquakes, and other natural hazards. One weather event can disrupt output well beyond the local area.

What we can do about it

The good news is that these risks can be managed — provided organisations take a broader view of resilience. Here are some steps they can take.

Don’t just look at your immediate suppliers. Map the wider network and look beyond the obvious. Concentration risk, single points of failure, and geographic exposure often lie deeper in the chain than expected. If you identify them early, you can act before disruption spreads. Tools, such as Marsh’s Sentrisk, can help companies gain visibility across multiple tiers of suppliers, enabling them to identify vulnerabilities and model the potential impacts of disruptions.

There is real value in pooling spare parts, coordinating procurement, and working with peers across the industry, always within the limits of applicable competition law rules. This is not about giving up competitive advantage. It is about building mutual resilience. In pooling arrangements, we have seen inventory costs across the sector fall by around half. That is a meaningful benefit.

Better data and monitoring allow organisations to anticipate problems earlier. That means fewer emergency repairs, more reliable schedules, and less firefighting. It takes investment, but the return is significant.

Resilience depends on people as much as on systems. Build clear career paths, offer incentives, and invest in training. When people can see a future with the organisation, they stay longer, perform better, and spot problems earlier.

Geopolitical shocks, natural disasters, and supplier failures should all be part of the planning process. The organisations that have already thought through their responses are best placed to absorb disruption.

Insurance and smart contracts have a role to play, but they should sit alongside operational resilience, not replace it. They are part of the toolkit — not a substitute for the hard work of building a stronger network.

Making supply chain resilience a boardroom priority

Supply chain resilience is not just a business issue. It is a shared responsibility. When organisations work together to understand vulnerabilities, diversify sourcing, strengthen teams, and prepare properly, they build operations that are more reliable, more profitable, and ultimately more sustainable.

The time to act is now, not because a crisis is necessarily around the corner, but because resilience takes time to build. Network mapping, supplier diversification, workforce development, and scenario planning are not quick fixes but long-term investments that can help organisations better understand their dependencies, reduce vulnerabilities, and make more informed decisions about where to mitigate risk, build redundancies, or transfer risk. Building these capabilities can help protect continuity and strengthen the ability to adapt when conditions change.

Report

Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Understanding the pressures we face

What we can do about it

Making supply chain resilience a boardroom priority

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Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Navigating Europe’s aviation supply chain risk: Building resilience in uncertain times

Understanding the pressures we face

What we can do about it

Gain clean supply chain visibility and map exposures:

Share and collaborate:

Predict, don’t react:

Invest in people:

Plan for the worst:

Know when to transfer risk:

Making supply chain resilience a boardroom priority

Contact your Marsh representative to discuss how you can strengthen resilience across your aviation supply chain.

Related insights

AI without blind spots: the 2026 Marsh European AI Opportunities and Risk Survey Report

Cyber risks and AI: the ECB requires an action plan by 31 October 2026

From regulatory constraint to strategic compass: Why the EU AI Act can strengthen organisations and HR

A corporate risk management framework for geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions