The Aviation Industry's Future is Stable.

Many question the stability of today's aviation industry.  I wholly believe this is completely unfounded pessimism.  It is true that the US airline carriers have seen a lot of turnover, mergers and route cuts, employee furloughs and salary cuts but you cannot base the entirety of an industry on one one sector.  For example, the US military spends millions if not billions every year on purchasing new aircraft, aircraft systems, and repair.  This means that every year millions (if not billions) are poured into the bank accounts of our top military aircraft manufacturers like Boeing & Lockheed Martin.

To better understand the multiple sectors of this industry we'll break them into five sectors:

1. Civilian Commercial Transport (Large carriers, small regional carriers & charter companies)
2. Worldwide Commerce (Cargo and Package carriers such as Fed Ex or UPS)
3. Military Transport (USAF, USN, US Army and Marines)
4. Civilian Private/Sport (Air Race, stunt aircraft, private owned aircraft like Cessna)
5. Non-Industrial Uses (News Helicopters, crop dusters)

Even with the recent problems that have seemed to plague the US airline carriers, the number of airline travelers (passengers) has been on a steady climb since the great fall following the events of September 11th, 2001.  Demand for quick, point to point air travel is still heavy and is forecast to remain so over the next decade.  Because of this, the civilian transport sector, albeit rough, is stable.

Worldwide commerce? Well your alternative is the USPS, need I say more?

Every year the US government spends millions, if not billions, on new aircraft, new navigational and tactical systems and routine maintenance of aircraft within it's four branches of service.  Some of the leading military aircraft manufacturers in the US are the Boeing company and Lockheed Martin.  With so much money being stuffed into their pockets, our military transport sector is far from weak.

Combining the last two: Non-Industrial use and private/sport sectors we round out the remaining parts of the Aviation industry puzzle.  In my opinion, you must think of these sectors as a having a stronger multiplying affect.  Meaning one job or project, affects another, affects another and so on so forth.  In short, these private operators purchase aircraft (helicopters, crop dusters) which in turn drives greater revenue for the sector over all. How? These aircraft need a place to land, park, a place to fuel up, places to eat etc... The multiplier affect on this sector alone proves its stability.

In the end we'll always need aviation and Aviation will always need us.