Boeing and Airbus plan to increase production significantly with the next generation of airliners, manufacturing up to 100 per month. Making that possible is the exploration of robotic assembly and lighter plastic materials. The companies shared these plans at the recent JEC World 2025 International Composites Show in Paris.
Thermoplastics may be the future of airliner construction
Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 series are still popular, and replacement designs are many years away. Still, both plane makers told the audience at the JEC World 2025 International Composites Show that they’ve made progress investigating next-generation jets, what they’ll be made of, and how fast they can be produced.
The key to that is composite construction, particularly thermoplastics. While composites are used in current planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350, they’re time-consuming to produce and require specialized autoclave ovens. Still, composites offer significant performance advantages, like reduced emissions and fuel consumption.
Boeing and Airbus are studying thermoplastics to increase the production of composite planes. This would allow them to produce increased quantities of smaller jets, up to 100 per month.
Randy Wilkerson, a Technical Fellow at Boeing and involved in a NASA research project for high-capacity manufacturing called HiCAM, told the conference: “The goal is to recommend the best approach to transition…(to) the next airplane program.”
Existing structural composite parts are made of thermoset, which is cured in autoclaves for long-term strength. In the future, that process may evolve with faster curing times. However, a future possibility is resin fusion, a method used in boat manufacturing that needs less curing time.
But the big news at the show was thermoplastics, with Airbus, GKN, and others displaying parts of the world’s largest fuselage made of thermoplastic material. The material’s upside is its ability to be reheated and remolded into an aerodynamic shape. It can also be welded using ultrasound instead of riveted together, saving weight. Autoclaves are also unnecessary, offering significant time and energy savings.
