March 17 - Senior executives from Honeywell Aerospace and Howmet Aerospace told investors on Tuesday they believe they can grow manufacturing capacity to handle rising demand for commercial aircraft components and defense-related munitions as global geopolitical tensions drive purchases.
Both suppliers said they are benefitting from increased production plans at large aircraft manufacturers, noting robust orders from Boeing and Airbus as those planemakers lift new-aircraft output. At the same time, governments are investing more in defense systems as conflicts, including those in Ukraine and Iran, exhaust missile inventories.
Howmet Chief Executive John Plant addressed the challenge at the Bank of America Global Industrials Conference in London, saying the company can meet targets set by Boeing and Airbus to raise narrowbody jet output. He cautioned, however, that immediately supporting a comparable rise in production of large long-haul aircraft would be difficult.
"I don’t think we could support all of that at the moment," Plant said. "My suspicion is that we would actually have to put more capacity down to achieve that level of production."
Honeywell Aerospace executives gave their outlook at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference in Washington, D.C., reiterating expectations for meaningful growth across both defense and commercial segments this year. Honeywell said it expects high single- to low double-digit growth for defense, and high single-digit growth for commercial planemakers in the current year.
"We don’t see the defense demand ... waning at all," Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier said. "The heightened geopolitical concerns and conflicts that are happening around the world, and have been for quite some time, are fueling a substantial amount of investment in the defense sector."
Honeywell Aerospace's product mix includes engines for business jets, navigation systems, and other parts that serve both commercial and defense markets. The company noted that roughly 60% of its revenue comes from the commercial sector, with the remaining 40% attributable to defense.
Honeywell has announced a multi-step corporate separation, including plans to spin off its aerospace and automation businesses into separate companies, in addition to an earlier announced spin-off of its advanced materials unit. The aerospace spin-off is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026.
The executives also highlighted uncertainty around how the recent U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran will affect industry economics and operations. That conflict has pushed crude oil toward approximately $100 a barrel and has prompted disruptions to flights and shipping, prompting planemakers to consult with suppliers and customers about potential impacts.
Sectors impacted: Aerospace manufacturing, defense contractors, commercial aviation, and parts suppliers.