Kerry Pianoforte, Editor05.05.25
The aerospace and defense coatings market was valued at $1.05 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $1.54 billion by 2030, rising at a CAGR of 6.62%, according ResearchAndMarkets.com’s report, “Aerospace & Defense Coatings Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends Opportunity, and Forecast, 2020-2030.”
Analysts at ResearchAndMarkets.com noted that in “recent years, the aerospace and defense coatings market has witnessed significant growth, driven by the increasing demand for high-performance coatings to extend the lifespan of aircraft and enhance their operational efficiency. Adoption of advanced coating technologies, such as nano-coatings, self-healing coatings and thermal barrier coatings, enhance performance, durability and protection against harsh operating conditions.”
“New orders for aircraft continue to rise,” said Ed Hilborne, global marketing and product manager, Aerospace Coatings at AkzoNobel. “The order backlog, however, of approximately 15,800 aircraft (as at the end of 2024), is now at an all-time high. That said, the demand for fuel-efficient aircraft to reduce operating costs and meet sustainability goals, and airlines’ aggressive fleet renewal and expansion plans, creates an exciting opportunity and long-term visibility of future work.”
Hilborne noted that within a challenging market, AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings has continued to perform well and is well-placed to support OEMs when they ramp up production. “We’ve shown resilience and our performance last year was boosted by increased demand for our coatings from aircraft maintenance customers, reflecting the strong relationships we’ve developed with Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) partners across the globe.”
“Mankiewicz can summarize this briefly and clearly: After already 2022 was a year above the pre-pandemic level, and this trend has continued very positively in 2023, also driven by product innovation and performance and continued in 2024, leading to the most successful year for aviation coatings in Mankiewicz history,” said René Lang, executive managing director Aviation, Mankiewicz.
As OEMs recover and recalibrate their production ramp up, Hilborne expects demand for aerospace coatings to grow. “We are also anticipating significant demand across Asia. Asia has become the fastest growing air travel region in the world. Domestic aerospace manufacturing is on the rise, final assembly lines are being moved into Asia, and MRO ‘hubs’ are being established. It is an exciting time to be in this market. The general aviation (GA) business jet segment is also driving growth for aerospace coatings – notably the quality interior and exterior coatings that help operators distinguish their aircraft both inside and out – with bespoke colors
and finishes.”
“Airlines are similarly looking to upgrade their assets and embarking on major cabin refurbishment projects,” Hilborne said. “These types of programs are driving growth for a range of stains, topcoats and color systems that can transform the inside of an aircraft, with hard-working, hard-wearing finishes to protect and enhance any interior design.”
Hilborne said that within the military there will likely be a growing demand for coatings in the context of increased spending on defense. “This will be especially so among those European NATO countries needing to invest in additional aerospace programs to address new demands being placed upon them by their U.S. allies.”
According to Lang, strong market demand for aircraft is boosting MRO activity – and with it, the importance of efficient coating solutions. “ALEXIT aircraft coating solutions by Mankiewicz offers two key advantages to meet this challenge: durability and process efficiency.”
And the full order books and maintenance schedules lead to capacity crunch time at the MROs. The Mankiewicz mission is to support them with fitting products to perform in these stressful situations. Two coating properties help to ease off the MRO situation: durability and efficient application.
“Long-lasting systems like ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat reduce maintenance frequency and extend the lifecycle of exterior surfaces. At the same time, fast application, high coverage, and short drying times accelerate repainting and repair, maximizing MRO throughput and minimizing aircraft downtime.
“In the cabin, ALEXIT interior coatings combine technical performance with design flexibility. They meet FST requirements and can mimic materials like metal or frosted glass – without adding weight. The wide range of OEM approvals, effects, colors, gloss levels, and even tactile finishes allows for tailor-made designs.
Thanks to excellent spot repairability, partial surface damage can be fixed without full refinishing – saving time and cost. With its broad portfolio, Mankiewicz empowers airlines and OEMs to combine aesthetics and performance in every detail.”
Aerospace coatings customers continue to demand the characteristics of protection and durability.
“When it comes to structural coatings, OEMs need proven solutions to protect the components you can’t see,” said Hilborne. “This is first and foremost about safety. When it comes to the paintwork that you can see, the topcoats and clearcoats, it is durability and aesthetic that are important. Surfaces need to look better for longer, standing up to general wear and tear and withstanding extreme
environmental conditions.”
OEMs and airlines also want features that support lower carbon emissions and improved fuel efficiency.
“They want lightweight coatings like our basecoat/clearcoat system (BCCC), which offers proven performance, significantly extending the durability of the aircraft’s paintwork and reducing the frequency of maintenance throughout its lifecycle,” said Hilborne. “Compared to ‘traditional’ paint systems, AkzoNobel’s BCCC is lighter, and achieves better coverage in fewer coats, which helps reduce the aircraft’s overall weight, which in turn lowers operational fuel costs. The need to use less paint and the absence of VOCs helps support a more sustainable aviation industry.”
Weight reduction remains a key driver in aviation, directly impacting fuel consumption – the largest cost factor for airlines.
“With hundreds of thousands of flights daily, every kilogram saved supports both efficiency and sustainability. ALEXIT aviation coatings contribute by offering lightweight solutions and replicating the appearance of heavier natural materials such as stone or wood without adding massive substantial weight,” said Lang.
Speed and process reliability are essential in OEM and MRO paint shops. Mankiewicz ensures both through robust systems, lean processes and comprehensive training.
“Composites play an increasingly important role in aircraft construction,” Lang added. “However, their uneven surfaces require careful prep before coating. Mankiewicz offers specialized fillers and surface correctors to ensure a flawless finish, especially under high-gloss paints. The right filler choice depends on the defect – from tiny pinholes to large-sized defects. Mankiewicz provides a versatile range of low-shrinkage, user-friendly fillers that reduce scrap rates and improve sustainability. Mankiewicz provides a filler portfolio offering the customers the opportunity having the right product for every surface and every application method.”
“First and foremost, beyond aesthetics, coatings are about protection, and the transition away from a monocoat system to a better performing BCCC system has shifted the trend of repainting an aircraft based on an arbitrary timeline (e.g every seven or eight years) to repainting based on condition (which can be 10 years or more),” said Hilborne. “A BCCC system has the dual benefit of not only protecting an aircraft’s surfaces for longer, but also maintaining its quality appearance to better reflect an airline’s brand. In terms of how often an airline changes its livery, there is no simple answer. It may coincide with an update to the fleet (e.g the delivery of a new type of aircraft), but cost and sustainability considerations are always going to be important.”
“To help airlines and other large operators to tailor and optimize the coatings’ replacement and maintenance schedule and to reduce the environmental impact of unnecessary repaints we created Aerofleet Coatings Management. This is a proactive monitoring and predictive maintenance service which works by capturing data from both manual inspections and drone-operated inspections to create a database of every aircraft in a fleet, and taking into account details of the coatings used (e.g. single-stage or basecoat/clearcoat coatings) along with flight path data (e.g. weather conditions etc.) which affect the integrity/longevity of the coating applied. By analyzing this information, and mapping it over time, a more accurate maintenance and repaint schedule can be calculated using quantitative data, rather than simply using a fixed number of years or flight hours. And it means schedules can be created that balance the practical performance of a coating and where the aircraft in a fleet are being operated (i.e. the different flight paths, distances, heights, environment etc.) against the aesthetic/marketing (i.e. branding) and business needs of the airline. To maximize efficiency and sustainability, airlines aim to repaint aircraft as rarely as possible. “Exceptions are made for rebranding or special liveries created for marketing campaigns or events,” Lang said. “Still, a spotless exterior remains crucial – it shapes passengers’ first impression and supports their sense of safety.”
While conventional coating systems often require repainting after just five years, Mankiewicz offers a proven alternative: the ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat system. It extends repainting intervals to up to 13 years while preserving gloss and durability – a major advantage for fleet operators focused on long-term performance.
Beyond longevity, ALEXIT also excels in flexibility. When complex designs or multicolor liveries are needed, the system’s fast drying and adaptable spray methods significantly reduce application time. To ensure the perfect finish, customers benefit from close cooperation with the Mankiewicz design department and global colorimetry experts – a collaborative approach that’s central to Mankiewicz’s philosophy.
“A particular challenge in aircraft painting are the wings,” said Lang. “Unlike the fuselage, wings are exposed to higher mechanical and chemical stress, often aging faster and requiring earlier repainting. Traditionally, different topcoats are used for upper and lower wing surfaces, making the process time-intensive due to masking and additional drying time.
Here, Mankiewicz offers a smart solution: ALEXIT WingFlex. This innovative 2-in-1 topcoat is suitable for both sides of the wing and is fully repairable. It simplifies the coating process, shortens turnaround times, and delivers excellent durability and appearance – even under extreme conditions.”
The process challenge addresses the need to optimize existing coating structures and application methods. An example is the ALEXIT WingFlex system, which simplifies the coating of aircraft wings by eliminating the need for separate topcoats. Mankiewicz has also been a pioneer in transitioning the market from traditional topcoats to the now widely established BaseCoat/ClearCoat systems. The ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat system continues to set benchmarks in gloss retention and
application reliability.
“Equally important is the material challenge,” Lang said. “With the increasing use of composite materials and additively manufactured components, achieving a smooth, paintable surface requires the right combination of primers and fillers. Mankiewicz provides tailored solutions that ensure a flawless finish – even on uneven or porous substrates. At the same time, coatings offer new creative possibilities. In aircraft interiors, surface effects can enhance the passenger experience and support airline branding. The FST-certified interior coatings from Mankiewicz cover everything from eco-efficient standard looks to advanced design effects – all within a fully qualified product range that simplifies customer processes.”
“The third pillar is the sustainability challenge. In addition to reducing weight and conserving resources during application, Mankiewicz also explores sustainable alternatives in design. One highlight is ALEXIT EcoChrome, a coating that convincingly replicates the look of electroplated chrome – without the environmental impact. Thanks to ultra-fine pigments, the surface appears metallic to the eye, delivering a chrome-like effect in a single-layer system. This not only reduces material and process time, but also opens up new design opportunities for components such as handrails and buttons, with a variety of available color tones.”
According to Hilborne, manufacturers are increasingly embracing automation for high volume production line performance. “As such, scientists within AkzoNobel are developing a new generation of products for interior cabin coatings that can be easily accommodated within manual, robotic and automated lines, allowing for higher-speed application and a more efficient coating operation without compromising on quality. This will be especially beneficial when high volumes of cabin product are being manufactured and when sustainability is a key consideration."
Trials of the new products are being accompanied by the support of AkzoNobel’s Technical Services teams, all of whom are qualified painters with decades of experience to lend practical as well as technical advice on maximizing the benefits of this latest innovation.
In its efforts to support customers, AkzoNobel looks beyond the paint and coatings and one area where they continue to invest is in its Virtual Reality training platform - Aerofleet Training+. This has been created to support businesses to train and upskill painters in a way that is more sustainable and often more practical than ‘traditional’ training methods.
“Several OEMs and MROs are already using our VR platform – among them International Aerospace Coatings (IAC) – which last year became the first MRO globally to integrate Aerofleet Training+ into its day-to-day operations and is now rolling out the technology at its other sites around the world,“ said Hilborne. “The proven success of the VR platform is leading us to create more training modules in response to demand.“
AkzoNobel’s R&D efforts continue to be reflected in its long-term commitment to develop new generation sustainable coatings.
“We want to reduce and ultimately eliminate materials of concern (e.g. the use of hexavalent chromium in corrosion protection coatings) and limit the use of VOCs by switching to low solvent coatings,” said Hilborne. “We are also finding ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the raw materials used in the development of our products (e.g. introducing resins that are from partly renewable sources) and supporting our customers to reduce their own carbon footprint with the development of coatings which require less energy to apply and systems that result in weight savings, which in turn leads to greater fuel efficiency for the aircraft.”
“A waterborne, polyurethane structural (basic) primer is similarly being developed to enhance adhesion on thermoplastics and thermosets even with limited surface preparation. These will be compatible with various exterior topcoats and actively support the protection of composite substrates from the potentially damaging effects of UV light,” Hilborne added.
Analysts at ResearchAndMarkets.com noted that in “recent years, the aerospace and defense coatings market has witnessed significant growth, driven by the increasing demand for high-performance coatings to extend the lifespan of aircraft and enhance their operational efficiency. Adoption of advanced coating technologies, such as nano-coatings, self-healing coatings and thermal barrier coatings, enhance performance, durability and protection against harsh operating conditions.”
“New orders for aircraft continue to rise,” said Ed Hilborne, global marketing and product manager, Aerospace Coatings at AkzoNobel. “The order backlog, however, of approximately 15,800 aircraft (as at the end of 2024), is now at an all-time high. That said, the demand for fuel-efficient aircraft to reduce operating costs and meet sustainability goals, and airlines’ aggressive fleet renewal and expansion plans, creates an exciting opportunity and long-term visibility of future work.”
Hilborne noted that within a challenging market, AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings has continued to perform well and is well-placed to support OEMs when they ramp up production. “We’ve shown resilience and our performance last year was boosted by increased demand for our coatings from aircraft maintenance customers, reflecting the strong relationships we’ve developed with Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) partners across the globe.”
“Mankiewicz can summarize this briefly and clearly: After already 2022 was a year above the pre-pandemic level, and this trend has continued very positively in 2023, also driven by product innovation and performance and continued in 2024, leading to the most successful year for aviation coatings in Mankiewicz history,” said René Lang, executive managing director Aviation, Mankiewicz.
Growth Drivers
There are a number of factors driving growth in the aerospace coatings market. These factors include OEM recovery, upgrades to existing aircraft and increased military funding.As OEMs recover and recalibrate their production ramp up, Hilborne expects demand for aerospace coatings to grow. “We are also anticipating significant demand across Asia. Asia has become the fastest growing air travel region in the world. Domestic aerospace manufacturing is on the rise, final assembly lines are being moved into Asia, and MRO ‘hubs’ are being established. It is an exciting time to be in this market. The general aviation (GA) business jet segment is also driving growth for aerospace coatings – notably the quality interior and exterior coatings that help operators distinguish their aircraft both inside and out – with bespoke colors
and finishes.”
“Airlines are similarly looking to upgrade their assets and embarking on major cabin refurbishment projects,” Hilborne said. “These types of programs are driving growth for a range of stains, topcoats and color systems that can transform the inside of an aircraft, with hard-working, hard-wearing finishes to protect and enhance any interior design.”
Hilborne said that within the military there will likely be a growing demand for coatings in the context of increased spending on defense. “This will be especially so among those European NATO countries needing to invest in additional aerospace programs to address new demands being placed upon them by their U.S. allies.”
According to Lang, strong market demand for aircraft is boosting MRO activity – and with it, the importance of efficient coating solutions. “ALEXIT aircraft coating solutions by Mankiewicz offers two key advantages to meet this challenge: durability and process efficiency.”
And the full order books and maintenance schedules lead to capacity crunch time at the MROs. The Mankiewicz mission is to support them with fitting products to perform in these stressful situations. Two coating properties help to ease off the MRO situation: durability and efficient application.
“Long-lasting systems like ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat reduce maintenance frequency and extend the lifecycle of exterior surfaces. At the same time, fast application, high coverage, and short drying times accelerate repainting and repair, maximizing MRO throughput and minimizing aircraft downtime.
“In the cabin, ALEXIT interior coatings combine technical performance with design flexibility. They meet FST requirements and can mimic materials like metal or frosted glass – without adding weight. The wide range of OEM approvals, effects, colors, gloss levels, and even tactile finishes allows for tailor-made designs.
Thanks to excellent spot repairability, partial surface damage can be fixed without full refinishing – saving time and cost. With its broad portfolio, Mankiewicz empowers airlines and OEMs to combine aesthetics and performance in every detail.”
Aerospace coatings customers continue to demand the characteristics of protection and durability.
“When it comes to structural coatings, OEMs need proven solutions to protect the components you can’t see,” said Hilborne. “This is first and foremost about safety. When it comes to the paintwork that you can see, the topcoats and clearcoats, it is durability and aesthetic that are important. Surfaces need to look better for longer, standing up to general wear and tear and withstanding extreme
environmental conditions.”
OEMs and airlines also want features that support lower carbon emissions and improved fuel efficiency.
“They want lightweight coatings like our basecoat/clearcoat system (BCCC), which offers proven performance, significantly extending the durability of the aircraft’s paintwork and reducing the frequency of maintenance throughout its lifecycle,” said Hilborne. “Compared to ‘traditional’ paint systems, AkzoNobel’s BCCC is lighter, and achieves better coverage in fewer coats, which helps reduce the aircraft’s overall weight, which in turn lowers operational fuel costs. The need to use less paint and the absence of VOCs helps support a more sustainable aviation industry.”
Weight reduction remains a key driver in aviation, directly impacting fuel consumption – the largest cost factor for airlines.
“With hundreds of thousands of flights daily, every kilogram saved supports both efficiency and sustainability. ALEXIT aviation coatings contribute by offering lightweight solutions and replicating the appearance of heavier natural materials such as stone or wood without adding massive substantial weight,” said Lang.
Speed and process reliability are essential in OEM and MRO paint shops. Mankiewicz ensures both through robust systems, lean processes and comprehensive training.
“Composites play an increasingly important role in aircraft construction,” Lang added. “However, their uneven surfaces require careful prep before coating. Mankiewicz offers specialized fillers and surface correctors to ensure a flawless finish, especially under high-gloss paints. The right filler choice depends on the defect – from tiny pinholes to large-sized defects. Mankiewicz provides a versatile range of low-shrinkage, user-friendly fillers that reduce scrap rates and improve sustainability. Mankiewicz provides a filler portfolio offering the customers the opportunity having the right product for every surface and every application method.”
When to Repaint
As aerospace coatings technologies get more sophisticated, aircraft need to be repainted less frequently.“First and foremost, beyond aesthetics, coatings are about protection, and the transition away from a monocoat system to a better performing BCCC system has shifted the trend of repainting an aircraft based on an arbitrary timeline (e.g every seven or eight years) to repainting based on condition (which can be 10 years or more),” said Hilborne. “A BCCC system has the dual benefit of not only protecting an aircraft’s surfaces for longer, but also maintaining its quality appearance to better reflect an airline’s brand. In terms of how often an airline changes its livery, there is no simple answer. It may coincide with an update to the fleet (e.g the delivery of a new type of aircraft), but cost and sustainability considerations are always going to be important.”
“To help airlines and other large operators to tailor and optimize the coatings’ replacement and maintenance schedule and to reduce the environmental impact of unnecessary repaints we created Aerofleet Coatings Management. This is a proactive monitoring and predictive maintenance service which works by capturing data from both manual inspections and drone-operated inspections to create a database of every aircraft in a fleet, and taking into account details of the coatings used (e.g. single-stage or basecoat/clearcoat coatings) along with flight path data (e.g. weather conditions etc.) which affect the integrity/longevity of the coating applied. By analyzing this information, and mapping it over time, a more accurate maintenance and repaint schedule can be calculated using quantitative data, rather than simply using a fixed number of years or flight hours. And it means schedules can be created that balance the practical performance of a coating and where the aircraft in a fleet are being operated (i.e. the different flight paths, distances, heights, environment etc.) against the aesthetic/marketing (i.e. branding) and business needs of the airline. To maximize efficiency and sustainability, airlines aim to repaint aircraft as rarely as possible. “Exceptions are made for rebranding or special liveries created for marketing campaigns or events,” Lang said. “Still, a spotless exterior remains crucial – it shapes passengers’ first impression and supports their sense of safety.”
While conventional coating systems often require repainting after just five years, Mankiewicz offers a proven alternative: the ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat system. It extends repainting intervals to up to 13 years while preserving gloss and durability – a major advantage for fleet operators focused on long-term performance.
Beyond longevity, ALEXIT also excels in flexibility. When complex designs or multicolor liveries are needed, the system’s fast drying and adaptable spray methods significantly reduce application time. To ensure the perfect finish, customers benefit from close cooperation with the Mankiewicz design department and global colorimetry experts – a collaborative approach that’s central to Mankiewicz’s philosophy.
“A particular challenge in aircraft painting are the wings,” said Lang. “Unlike the fuselage, wings are exposed to higher mechanical and chemical stress, often aging faster and requiring earlier repainting. Traditionally, different topcoats are used for upper and lower wing surfaces, making the process time-intensive due to masking and additional drying time.
Here, Mankiewicz offers a smart solution: ALEXIT WingFlex. This innovative 2-in-1 topcoat is suitable for both sides of the wing and is fully repairable. It simplifies the coating process, shortens turnaround times, and delivers excellent durability and appearance – even under extreme conditions.”
New Products
Lang noted that there are key challenges when developing aerospace coatings – process, material and sustainability challenges.The process challenge addresses the need to optimize existing coating structures and application methods. An example is the ALEXIT WingFlex system, which simplifies the coating of aircraft wings by eliminating the need for separate topcoats. Mankiewicz has also been a pioneer in transitioning the market from traditional topcoats to the now widely established BaseCoat/ClearCoat systems. The ALEXIT BaseCoat/ClearCoat system continues to set benchmarks in gloss retention and
application reliability.
“Equally important is the material challenge,” Lang said. “With the increasing use of composite materials and additively manufactured components, achieving a smooth, paintable surface requires the right combination of primers and fillers. Mankiewicz provides tailored solutions that ensure a flawless finish – even on uneven or porous substrates. At the same time, coatings offer new creative possibilities. In aircraft interiors, surface effects can enhance the passenger experience and support airline branding. The FST-certified interior coatings from Mankiewicz cover everything from eco-efficient standard looks to advanced design effects – all within a fully qualified product range that simplifies customer processes.”
“The third pillar is the sustainability challenge. In addition to reducing weight and conserving resources during application, Mankiewicz also explores sustainable alternatives in design. One highlight is ALEXIT EcoChrome, a coating that convincingly replicates the look of electroplated chrome – without the environmental impact. Thanks to ultra-fine pigments, the surface appears metallic to the eye, delivering a chrome-like effect in a single-layer system. This not only reduces material and process time, but also opens up new design opportunities for components such as handrails and buttons, with a variety of available color tones.”
According to Hilborne, manufacturers are increasingly embracing automation for high volume production line performance. “As such, scientists within AkzoNobel are developing a new generation of products for interior cabin coatings that can be easily accommodated within manual, robotic and automated lines, allowing for higher-speed application and a more efficient coating operation without compromising on quality. This will be especially beneficial when high volumes of cabin product are being manufactured and when sustainability is a key consideration."
Trials of the new products are being accompanied by the support of AkzoNobel’s Technical Services teams, all of whom are qualified painters with decades of experience to lend practical as well as technical advice on maximizing the benefits of this latest innovation.
In its efforts to support customers, AkzoNobel looks beyond the paint and coatings and one area where they continue to invest is in its Virtual Reality training platform - Aerofleet Training+. This has been created to support businesses to train and upskill painters in a way that is more sustainable and often more practical than ‘traditional’ training methods.
“Several OEMs and MROs are already using our VR platform – among them International Aerospace Coatings (IAC) – which last year became the first MRO globally to integrate Aerofleet Training+ into its day-to-day operations and is now rolling out the technology at its other sites around the world,“ said Hilborne. “The proven success of the VR platform is leading us to create more training modules in response to demand.“
AkzoNobel’s R&D efforts continue to be reflected in its long-term commitment to develop new generation sustainable coatings.
“We want to reduce and ultimately eliminate materials of concern (e.g. the use of hexavalent chromium in corrosion protection coatings) and limit the use of VOCs by switching to low solvent coatings,” said Hilborne. “We are also finding ways of reducing the carbon footprint of the raw materials used in the development of our products (e.g. introducing resins that are from partly renewable sources) and supporting our customers to reduce their own carbon footprint with the development of coatings which require less energy to apply and systems that result in weight savings, which in turn leads to greater fuel efficiency for the aircraft.”
Next Generation Waterborne Basecoats
AkzoNobel is also exploring a next generation waterborne basecoat that will have all the advantages of having only a single component (1K), thereby reducing waste and application time, while being free of isocyanates and VOCs. The basecoat will still have the performance of existing systems, being able to withstand exposure to chemicals and extremes of weather and temperature without blistering. It can also be combined with different gloss levels of clearcoats.“A waterborne, polyurethane structural (basic) primer is similarly being developed to enhance adhesion on thermoplastics and thermosets even with limited surface preparation. These will be compatible with various exterior topcoats and actively support the protection of composite substrates from the potentially damaging effects of UV light,” Hilborne added.
