it has been a difficult year for aircraft manufacturers given that air travel has declined
significantly over the past year due to the core now hiris pandemic however these companies
have managed to keep going and have maintained their position as some of the best in the world
lockheed martin a longtime giant of the air industry lockheed martin is likely the hash
one position for aircraft manufacturers in 2021 due to its massive revenue
in 2020 they made an estimated dollar 65.4 billion usd in revenue even in spite of the pandemic
this is still their largest year of revenue to date lockheed martin is an aerospace and
technology company as well as making aircraft also specializes in military-grade security
with around 78 percent of its annual revenue being derived from u.s military contracts
they do not make commercial aircraft only military and security aircraft
their most prominent models are the lockheed sr-71 blackbird built in collaboration with nasa and the
f-22 raptor which is exclusively used by the u.s air force the sr-71 is one of the highest flying
planes to have ever been built i.e it can fly a much higher altitude than standard military
aircraft they also built the first ever stealth aircraft the f-117 also known as the nighthawk
the company has approximately 114 000 employees as of 2021 and delivers approximately 500 aircraft to
buyers per year one of its most popular models the f-16 has an average lifetime of around
eight thousand ten thousand flight hours lockheed martin plans to continue to expand the production
of the f-35 one of their most popular models in 2021 which services 13 nations air forces
airbus airbus se is a european company and the world's biggest airliner manufacturer
they also manufacture military aircraft and helicopters
though the vast majority of their business dealings are in commercial airliner manufacturing
they began exclusively as an airliner company
though began to manufacture military-grade aircraft in the 1990s for a long time boeing
was the biggest company manufacturing airliners but airbus se has overtaken them in recent years
the first ever digital fly-by-wire airliner plane was manufactured and sold by airbus
hence why they are one of the best renowned companies now for making airliners fly-by-wire
means having an electronic interface for the pilot instead of manual controls
airbus made approximately dollar 78.9 billion in revenue in 2020 though some of these sales
are expected to have dropped off slightly in 2021 due to the lack of airliner requirements during
the pandemic in 1972 airbus released the a300 which was the first aircraft to have a digital
fly-by-wire interface as well as a double engine and double aisle within the aircraft
the a320 was built shortly after using a similar design and this model is still one of the world's
most popular airliner aircraft to this day this model has an approximate lifespan of around 120
000 flight hours it is also considered to be one of the safest models of an airliner in the world
given its long and reliable history of flying
boeing perhaps one of the most recognizable names in the aircraft manufacturing
industry boeing is an american corporation that sells commercial airliner aircraft
as well as weapons systems satellites and rockets in 2020 boeing had revenue of approximately
58.16 billion and has over 143 000 employees across all locations they began in seattle
by william boeing in 1916 and quickly became one of the biggest airliner companies around
in 2018 it was the second largest defense contractor on the planet
it also exports more than any other company in the united states boeing is well known for its 747 737
and other dreamliner models which are among some of the most popular airliner models in existence
unfortunately in 2017 the 737 models were all grounded as a result of two fatal crashes
they have since fixed the issues with this model and are now flying again since then
the company hasn't been on top of the airliner industry in the same way it used to be despite
the crashes they do have other models which have had zero passenger fatalities
the ever popular 747 and the 787 dreamliner for instance
sadly in 2021 the company began to slow the production of the 787 due to forensic
investigations into the quality of the planes there have been multiple reported issues with
the model such as electrical problems and gaps around the forward pressure bulkhead
despite this the company continues to push on in other areas in order to maximize revenue in 2021
they have just sold a new fleet of 737
aircraft to the british airline company ryanair after a few months of delay
northrop grumman northrop grumman is a well-established military aircraft manufacturer
based in virginia united states and sells both aircraft and weapons the company operates
multinationally and sells to over 25 allied militaries worldwide in 2020 the company had
revenue of dollar 36.7 billion typically they average around 1.30 billion per year
one of these was for the grumman x-47b the first unmanned and autonomous aerial vehicle
to be used in the u.s navy the most exciting project on northrop's horizon at the minute
is the development of the b-21 raider in association with the u.s
air force it is a heavy bomber vehicle that will be able to drop bombs from long range
it is also anticipated to be able to carry nuclear weapons as well as standard bombs
recently they have also begun working on a hypersonic weapons center of excellence
which will be a new factory in its elkington maryland location which sees the design
production and correct installation of hypersonic missiles and other weapons
they also recently signed a contract with nasa to explore a fairly experimental studio
apartment complete with enough space for three aircraft which will go into the earth's orbit