Kearney Warns Airlines of Critical Mineral Chokepoints as Next-Generation Fleets Expand

Highlights

• Kearney identifies cobalt, rhenium, gallium, and rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium as key vulnerabilities in next-generation aircraft supply chains.
• Latest-generation aircraft could grow from 31% to 70% of major U.S. airline fleets between 2026 and 2031, amplifying mineral dependency risks.
• The critical vulnerability lies between the mine and the aircraft—qualified processors, alloy makers, and magnet manufacturers may matter more than raw material tonnage.
• Aviation's mineral risk is increasingly a midstream and manufacturing resilience problem, not simply a mining or raw-material sourcing problem.