Industry How COVID-19 has hit the aviation supplier industry in Hamburg

Since the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, a lot has changed in the aviation industry. At first, airlines and airports were forced to stop operations, as countries imposed travel restrictions around the globe. Even now, the situation regarding the outbreak is still unstable and dynamic and this has now fully impacted the entire aviation supply chain industry as well.

This year, it is expected that the average revenue decline will amount to approximately 40 percent compared to the previous year, while also bearing in mind, that the first quarter of 2020 was still full of success.

Sebastian Corth, managing director at Hanse-Aerospace commented: "The service providers, in particular the engineering service providers, were hit particularly hard, where business has collapsed by almost 100% in some cases. Some companies have been able to compensate for the slump through innovative ideas and deliveries to other industries, but the options are limited in the current situation. A pre-crisis level is not expected before 2024 - and here it is important to be prepared for what the new normal will actually look like."

He added that in Germany, only little of the political measures are reached by the middle class. The large bridging relief measures can be requested by anyone but are more likely to only reach the big players in the industry.

In Hamburg in particular, where around 300 small and medium sized enterprises are at home, the negative effects of the Coronavirus will ultimately – sooner or later – lead to companies liquidating. Around big players like Lufthansa Technik or Airbus, hundreds of suppliers have settled.

Corth added: "Of course, all companies will not be able to hold out this thirst period. However, it is extremely important for the Hamburg metropolitan region, as the third largest aviation location in the world, not to lose the know-how due to staff drain. Because here we have a worldwide technological leadership in many areas relevant to aviation, which would unfortunately (once again) migrate to other regions of the world."

HANSE-AEROSPACE e.V. is the largest German association of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the aerospace industry. A total of 14,000 employees, around fifteen percent of all skilled workers working in the German aerospace industry, are employed in around 150 Hanse Aerospace member companies. Together, the member companies have annual sales of around 11 billion Euro, of which around 1.5 billion Euro are generated in the aerospace industry.