Aircraft Interior Plastics Market by Material Type, by Form Type, by Application Type, by Aircraft Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2020-2025

This strategic assessment report provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today’s aircraft interior plastics market realities and future possibilities for the forecast period of 2020 to 2025. After a continuous interest in our Aircraft Interior Sandwich Panels Market, Aircraft Cabin Interior Composites Market, and Aircraft Seats Market reports from the industry stakeholders, we have tried to further accentuate our research scope to the aircraft interior plastics market in order to provide the most thoroughgoing picture of the market. The report segments and analyzes the market in the most comprehensive manner to provide a panoramic view of the market. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for market participants as well as investors in the identification of low-hanging fruits available as well as formulate growth strategies.

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market: Highlights

Cabin interiors have the highest penetration of plastics among different aircraft applications. On the contrary, exteriors still have a significant penetration of metals with aluminum fuselage and wings in most of the aircraft platforms. Sandwich composites are predominantly used in cabin interiors with nomex and aluminum honeycomb as preferred core materials along with thermoset prepreg (typically phenolic or epoxy) on skins. Apart from composite sandwich panels, injection-molded, extruded, and compression-molded plastic components are other key plastic forms in interiors.

The recent spread of COVID-19 has brought cabin hygiene at the forefront which could be as important as flammability standards for cabin interiors. New standards for cabin interior sanitization, hygiene, antibacterial, or anti-viral surface treatments on different interior parts including plastic parts would benefit the industry in such a time of crisis. There exist significant opportunities for new and existing players serving the cabin interiors to innovate and advertize with materials or parts that would bring some superiority benefits in ensuring passengers’ safe and hygienic flying experience. Product development targeting hygiene and safety is among the new hotspot for cabin interiors.

The global aircraft interior plastics market was estimated is likely to witness a colossal decline in 2020 to set foot below the level of 2014 in 2020. Previous pandemic/recessions, such as SARS (2003), The Great Recession (2008), and MERS (2015), have led to a strong decline in the aviation industry followed by a quick recovery, forming a V-shape recovery. Considering the same, the COVID-19 is also likely to depict a V-shape recovery; however, the decline would be extremely deeper than any other previous downturns. The publisher's estimates advocate the aircraft interior plastics market to reach US$ 3.2 billion in 2025.

Cabin interiors are likely to find some solace in the distressing environment with various innovations going on in the industry, regarding the safer in-flight experience of passengers to regain their flying confidence. Some of the innovations are reconfiguring seats, such as the creation of partitions for passenger isolation, modification of wide-body passenger aircraft interiors into freight aircraft, and the development of interior products with improved safety and hygiene protocols. Increasing commercial aircraft fleet size, recovery in commercial and regional aircraft deliveries, growing adoption of in-flight entertainment (IFE) & cabin upgrades, growing aircraft refurbishment activities, and increasing penetration of composites in the aircraft industry are some key factors fuelling the market demand in the longer run.

The market is firstly segmented based on the material type as epoxy plastics, phenolic plastics, PPS plastics, PEI plastics, PASU plastics, PA plastics, PC plastics, and other plastics. Epoxy and phenolic plastics are the top two materials in the market with their widescale usage in sandwich panels. PASU family also holds significant share among thermoplastics, driven by its usage in interior decorative parts. High-performance thermoplastics, such as PEI and PPS, have also notable share in cabin interiors.

The market is further segmented based on the application type as floor, sidewall, ceiling, stowage bins, galleys, lavatory, seats, HVAC, and other applications. Floor is expected to remain the most dominant application in the market over the next five years. Floors have thicker sandwich construction than other applications such as galleys, sidewalls, and ceilings. Glass and carbon-epoxy skins with nomex honeycomb are the perennial choice of materials for floor panels. Seats also have a significant share in the market and have been experiencing an increase in plastics content with the replacement of metallic parts.

The aircraft interior plastics market is also segmented on the basis of aircraft type as narrow-body aircraft, wide-body aircraft, very large body aircraft, regional aircraft, and general aviation. The narrow-body aircraft segment is expected to remain the largest segment of the market over the next five years, propelled by the A320 and B737 programs. Wide-body aircraft also have a significant share in the market. High plastic content in wide-body aircraft, especially in the next-generation aircraft, such as A350XWB and B787, is augmenting the segmental demand.

In terms of region, North America is projected to remain the largest region for aircraft interior plastics during the forecast period. However, its commercial aircraft segment has been experiencing various challenges, mainly due to the grounding of B737 Max severely affecting both linefit as well as retrofit demand. Airlines, particularly with the huge B737 Max fleet, are reluctant to take their other aircraft out for service and are deliberately delaying their interior retrofit programs. These factors have led Europe to surpass North America in the commercial aircraft segment. The resumption in the production of B737 Max coupled with large aircraft fleet size for all commercial and regional aircraft as well as general aviation is likely to maintain North American’s overall lead in the market.

The supply chain of this market comprises raw material suppliers, thermoplastic suppliers, compounders, prepreggers, aircraft interior part manufacturers, distributors, tier players, aircraft OEMs, airlines, aircraft leasing companies, and MRO companies. The key aircraft interior plastic parts manufacturers in the market are Safran SA, Triumph Group, Jamco Corporation, Diehl Group, Collins Aerospace, FACC AG, The Gill Corporation, Encore Aerospace LLC, and AIM Altitude. Some of the key aircraft interior plastic material/composite suppliers are Solvay SA, SABIC, Toray Advanced Composites, Hexcel Corporation, Hexion, Huntsman Corporation, and BASF SE.

Some of the Key Merger & Acquisition and Strategic Alliances in the Market:

The market’s attractiveness has led to a series of acquisitions by big players, acquiring small players leading to greater market consolidation.

• In 2018, United Technologies Corporation completed the acquisition of Rockwell Collins for US$ 30 billion. The acquisition enhanced the company’s portfolio in avionics manufacturing, defense business, and interiors.
• In 2018, Safran SA acquired Zodiac Aerospace for US$ 9 billion. Safran added aircraft interiors to its business segment. Upon acquisition, Safran split the aircraft interiors business into Safran Cabin, Safran Seats, and Safran Passenger Solutions.
• In 2015, Rockwell Collins acquired B/E Aerospace for US$ 8.6 billion. The interior business was added to Collin Aerospace’s portfolio upon the acquisition.

Research Methodology

These reports offer high-quality insights and are the outcome of detailed research methodology comprising extensive secondary research, rigorous primary interviews with industry stakeholders and validation and triangulation with the publisher's internal database and statistical tools. More than 1000 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. The publisher conducted more than 15 detailed primary interviews with the market players across the value chain in all five 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. The 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, 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 aircraft interior plastics market is segmented into the following categories:

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market, By Material Type:

• Epoxy Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Phenolic Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PPS Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PEI Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PASU Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PA Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PC Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Others (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market, By Form Type:

• Reinforced Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Non-Reinforced Plastics (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market, By Application Type:

• Floor (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Sidewall (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Ceiling (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Stowage Bin (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Galleys (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Lavatories (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Seats (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• HVAC (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Others (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market, By Aircraft Type:

• Narrow-Body Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Wide-Body Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Very Large-Body 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)

Aircraft Interior Plastics Market, By Region:

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