When the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its Reviving the Commercial Aircraft Supply Chain report earlier this year, one figure stood out above the rest: $11 billion. That’s the estimated extra cost airlines faced in 2025 as a direct result of supply-chain disruption.
From delayed maintenance and grounded aircraft to higher leasing fees and excess spare inventory, the global airline industry is paying dearly for a system that was once optimized for efficiency but falls woefully short on resilience. The report’s conclusion was blunt: “The commercial aircraft supply chain remains under stress, and the ability to respond to disruptions will define the winners of the next decade.”
That flexibility is exactly where additive manufacturing (AM) has proven its worth this year.
From Efficiency to Agility: A Paradigm Shift in Aerospace Manufacturing
The aerospace sector was once the model of precision scheduling that epitomized highly optimized, deeply interdependent, and geographically distributed efficiency at scale. But this year, a perfect storm of labor shortages, raw-material delays, and certification backlogs converged to challenge even the most sophisticated OEMs and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) organizations.
Aircraft production rates lagged behind forecasts; MRO shops faced multi-month delays, and parts shortages cascaded through the supply chain. Even when components were available, logistics bottlenecks and single-source dependencies drove costs higher and schedules longer.
That’s why many aerospace leaders at both ends of the manufacturing and maintenance lines turned to additive manufacturing not just as a stopgap, but as a strategic pillar of their production and sustainment strategies.
Unlike traditional manufacturing, which depends on casting, forging, and machining parts across long-distance supplier networks, AM enables companies to design, qualify, and produce parts at or near the point of use. This shift was once incremental, but it became transformational in 2025, particularly as delayed shipments became more inevitable than probable and delayed entire production lines in the process.
Put simply, the ability to print certified parts locally is a competitive advantage. Aerospace companies are increasingly deploying distributed digital manufacturing networks where “virtual factories” maintain digital part files that can be printed in multiple certified locations using standardized materials and processes.
That digital backbone eliminates the risk of geography. Whether a part is needed in Toulouse, Wichita, or Nagoya, it can be produced from the same validated file, on the same machine, under the same quality controls.
This approach doesn’t just speed up production; it takes risk out of operations. Digital inventories replace warehouses full of physical stock. Design changes can be implemented instantly, without waiting for retooling or resupply. And as additive materials evolve — from ULTEM™ 9085 and PEKK for flight hardware to high-temperature photopolymers for tooling — more parts are moving from experimental to end-use production.
Where Theory Meets Reality: Drill Guides & Tooling for Airbus and Boom Supersonic
One of the clearest examples of this shift is the adoption of 3D-printed drill guides and tooling made with Nylon 12CF for both Airbus programs and Boom Supersonic.
Traditionally, drill guides were machined from aluminum, with designs that are heavy, non-ergonomic, and prone to wing surface damage. By contrast, the printed Nylon 12CF guides delivered aerospace-grade rigidity at a fraction of the mass, reducing operator fatigue and safety risk on the shop floor.
Real-world performance metrics illustrate the operational impact:
- Laser-scanned accuracy within 0.2 mm, ensuring precision drilling and placement
- Large guides over 600 mm printed in one piece
- Nylon 12CF tools are roughly three times lighter than aluminum equivalents
- Production time cut from over one month to 40 hours
- An estimated $20,000 cost savings per tool, driven by reduced rework and improved ergonomics
- Boom Supersonic alone has printed 750+ drill guides for titanium and carbon fiber drilling operations
What once required extensive machining and long lead times is now being produced digitally, repeatably, and with lower risk to both schedule and workforce.
Stratasys
Accelerating MRO Through On-Demand Manufacturing
Maintenance operations have been one of the hardest-hit areas of the aerospace supply chain. The IATA report notes that extended turnaround times and part delays are forcing airlines to lease aircraft longer, often at premium rates. Every day a plane sits idle can cost an airline upwards of $100,000 in lost revenue and operating expenses.
AM has become a lifeline for MRO organizations looking to regain control over repair timelines. Tooling and fixturing that once took weeks to machine can now be printed in hours using high-strength polymers. Replacement parts that were historically constrained by minimum-order quantities or discontinued supplier programs can be recreated from digital twins and printed on demand.
In 2025, we’ve also seen additive applied not only to legacy aircraft, but to next-generation platforms where supply chain visibility remains limited.
These successes help underscore a fundamental shift: AM is no longer just a rapid-prototyping tool; it’s a production-ready technology for certified aerospace applications.
A Year of Supply-Chain Stress Tests
The IATA report identifies multiple pressure points that defined 2025: material shortages, certification bottlenecks, skilled-labor constraints, and delayed supplier recoveries.
AM has addressed each in distinct ways, creating a resilient data-driven ecosystem where traceability and flexibility coexist:
- Material agility: AM reduces dependence on hard-to-source alloys by leveraging advanced polymers and composites that meet mechanical and environmental requirements for non-critical and even semi-structural components.
- Reduced tooling complexity: Traditional jigs and fixtures — often bespoke and expensive — can be printed as needed, cutting both cost and lead time.
- Workforce leverage: Additive processes minimize manual interventions, allowing smaller, more flexible teams to produce high-quality parts without extensive retraining.
- Digital traceability: AM workflows inherently generate build data, supporting compliance with FAA and EASA documentation requirements.
For decades, aerospace supply chains optimized for cost and throughput. But as the $11 billion price tag shows, efficiency without resilience is a false economy. It also redefines value creation. As supply chains digitize, the companies that own validated part data, not just physical inventory, become the new supply-chain leaders.
A Collaborative Path Forward
Stratasys has long advocated for shared standards, repeatable qualification processes, and multi-stakeholder training programs that help accelerate adoption. Through partnerships with aerospace leaders and research institutes, we’re proving that distributed manufacturing can meet the industry’s rigorous performance and safety benchmarks.
What’s clear is that AM’s role is evolving from reactive problem-solving to proactive capacity-building. It’s no longer about producing emergency parts when suppliers fail — it’s about building a networked manufacturing ecosystem that anticipates and absorbs disruption.
The lesson isn’t simply that disruption is costly, it’s that resilience pays dividends. Additive manufacturing has matured into one of the most powerful enablers of that resilience. It empowers organizations to think digitally, act locally, and respond globally. The challenge now is to extend the conversation beyond adoption to include acceleration so that the next generation of flight will be built not just in factories, but in flexible, digital networks designed to withstand whatever turbulence comes next.