Aircraft Soft Goods Market by Aircraft Type, by Product Type, by Material Type, by End-User Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2019-2024

This comprehensive 261-page report, from the author, presents the most complete and thorough market analysis on the aircraft soft goods market for the forecast period of 2019 to 2014 with a high emphasis on the accurate market data, insights and competitive landscapes. The report rigorously studies all major soft goods yarn, fabric, as well as tier players in order to provide an accurate assessment of the soft goods market at the global and regional level. The report further identifies low-hanging fruits that lie ahead for the market participants with an aim to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation for long-term profitable growth.

The Global Aircraft Soft Goods Market: Highlights
Soft goods deliver aesthetic value to aircraft interiors and assist airlines to enhance the level of comfort and feel to passengers along with improved noise absorption and damping of aircraft vibration. In the last few decades, significant investment from the airline industry towards the improvement and maintenance of soft goods has been witnessed for aesthetically pleasing, compact, and innovative aircraft interiors. The aircraft soft goods market has a disruptive journey over the eons. For instance; natural leathers, one of the widely used seating materials, are significantly being phased out with synthetic leathers. All the major tier players are working closely with the aircraft OEMs in order to develop advanced lightweight interior systems that offer excellent aesthetics and aid carriers to improve the overall customer’s experience. Nylon fabric is the perennial choice in fabricating soft goods products as the material not only offers the advantages of being light in weight but also improves the overall cabin aesthetics.

The global aircraft soft goods market is projected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 837.8 million in 2024. Organic growth of the aircraft industry is the major driver of the sustainable demand for lightweight material in the aircraft industry. Boeing and Airbus had a combined total order backlog of 13,048 commercial aircraft as of 31st December 2018. These huge pile of order backlogs of commercial aircraft will allow both airframers to roll out their aircraft continuously for the next nine years at current build rates. However, they have strategically been raising the production rates of their key commercial aircraft programs in order to deliver aircraft to their widespread clients at a shorter period of time. Also, they have been introducing fuel-efficient variants of their best-selling aircraft programs with the purpose to address the biggest requirement of the airline industry, which is the fuel-efficient aircraft. This is likely to engender a greater demand for soft goods in the OE segment in the foreseeable future.

Cabin upgrade is another factor creating a significant opportunity for soft goods. In general, first- and business-class cabins are frequently refurbished than the economy class cabins. Also, airlines profitability is having a major impact on discretionary spending on upgrades. Lower crude oil prices allowed airlines to make more profit, thus, spending more on cabin upgrades, such as interior modification and replacement of carpets, seat, and curtains.

Safety is another factor that is again boosting the demand for soft goods in aircraft cabin interiors. For instance; aircraft seats are required to withstand a dynamic 16g force. In the 16g test, two distinct dynamic tests are conducted, which ultimately stimulates the loads that could be expected in an impact-survivable accident. This helps the passengers to survive in case of a fatal accident. The selection of materials for the seating application largely depends upon such regulations. Nylon yarn excels in most of the parameters with the advantages of being light in weight.

The market is segmented based on the aircraft type as Commercial Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, General Aviation, Military Aircraft, and Helicopter. Commercial aircraft is likely to remain the growth engine of the market during the forecast period. Increasing production rates of key programs, such as B737, A320 family, B787, and A350XWB; market entry of new players, such as COMAC and Irkut; an introduction of variants of existing best-selling aircraft programs, such as B737 Max, A320neo, and B777x; and an increasing demand for cabin retrofit of the large aircraft fleet are likely to offer a sustainable growth platform for soft goods in this segment in the coming years.

Based on the product type, the market is segmented into Seats, Carpet, Curtains, and Others. Seats are likely to remain the most dominant segment of the global aircraft soft goods market over the next five years, driven by a high demand for seats for OE as well as a retrofit in the commercial aircraft segment coupled with an increasing demand for comfortable, aesthetically excellent, and lightweight seat and armrest covers. Whereas, carpet, another considerable segment, is likely to witness the highest growth during the same period, driven by a large surface area of aircraft flooring.

Based on the material type, the market is bifurcated into Nylon Yarn, Natural Leather, Synthetic Leather, Wool/Nylon Blend Fabric, Polyester Fabric, and Others. Nylon yarn is the most widely used material in the market and is likely to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. It is considered an ideal material for producing carpets, seat covers, and curtains for aircraft interiors. Wool/nylon blend fabric, natural leather, synthetic leather, and polyester fabric are the other major materials used in the manufacturing of soft goods for the aircraft industry. They also offer sizeable growth opportunities in the coming years.

Based on the end-user type, the aftermarket segment is projected to maintain its dominance and is also likely to grow at a higher rate during the forecast period. The rising fleet size of commercial aircraft and increasing demand for advanced lightweight soft goods products to the replace the old ones are the major driving forces behind the significant growth of the aftermarket segment.

Based on regions, North America is projected to remain the largest market during the forecast period, driven by both OE as well as aftermarket segments. The USA is the growth engine of the region’s market and has the presence of almost all the major aircraft OEMs including Boeing, Airbus, Cessna, and Gulfstream. Rising commercial aircraft fleet size in the region is likely to further boost the overall demand for soft goods in the aircraft industry in the foreseeable future.

Asia-Pacific is likely to witness the highest growth during the same period, driven by a host of factors including increasing demand for commercial aircraft to support rising passenger traffic, the opening of assembly plants of Boeing and Airbus in China, upcoming indigenous commercial and regional aircraft (COMAC C919 and Mitsubishi MRJ), and rising aircraft fleet size.

The supply chain of this market comprises raw material suppliers, soft goods suppliers, distributors, OEMs, and airlines. The key soft goods companies are Anker, Botany Weaving Mill Ltd., Desso Group, E-Leather Ltd., Haeco, Lantal Textile AG, Mohawk Group, and Tapis Corporation. The key aircraft OEMs & Airlines are Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, ATR, Embraer, COMAC, Irkut, Sukhoi, Air Canada, British Airways, and United Airlines. The regional expansion, the formation of long-term contracts, and the development of innovative soft goods are some of the major strategies adopted by major players to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Research Methodology
This report offers high-quality insights and is the outcome of detailed research methodology comprising extensive secondary research, rigorous primary interviews with industry stakeholders and validation and triangulation with the author’s internal database and statistical tools. More than 1,000 authenticated secondary sources, such as company annual reports, fact book, press release, journals, investor presentation, white papers, patents, and articles, have been leveraged to gather the data. We conducted more than 15 detailed primary interviews with the market players across the value chain in all four regions and industry experts to obtain both qualitative and quantitative insights.

Report Features
This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market.

Following are the key features of the report:

• Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis
• Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter’s five forces analysis, SWOT analysis
• Market trend and forecast analysis
• Market segment trend and forecast
• Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, Product portfolio, New product launches, etc.
• Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities
• Emerging trends
• Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players
• Key success factors

The market is segmented into the following categories:

Aircraft Soft Goods Market, By Aircraft Type

• Commercial Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Regional Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• General Aviation (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Military Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Helicopter (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Soft Goods Market, By Product Type

• Carpets (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Seat Covers (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Curtains (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Others (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Soft Goods Market, By Material Type

• Wool/Nylon Blend Fabric (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Nylon Yarn (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Natural Leather (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Synthetic Leather (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Polyester Fabric (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Other Materials (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Soft Goods Market, By End-User Type

• OE (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Aftermarket (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Soft Goods Market, By Region

• North America (Country Analysis: The USA, Canada, and Mexico)
• Europe (Country Analysis: France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe)
• Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia-Pacific)
• Rest of the World (Sub-region Analysis: Latin America, the Middle East, and Others)

Company Profiling

• Detailed profiling of additional market players (up to 3 players)
• SWOT analysis of key players (up to 3 players)

Market Segmentation

• Current market segmentation of any one of the products by material type

Competitive Benchmarking

• Benchmarking of key players on the following parameters: Product portfolio, geographical reach, regional presence, and strategic alliances