The aeronautical sector: Recent tendencies

Abstract

Aviation first appears as the First World War is coming to an end. As with other productive sectors, the strategic needs of nations will set the pace of development in the aeronautical sector. Born as an adventure of pioneering dreamers, aviation became a strategic industrial sector as a consequence of the First, and particularly, the Second World Wars when the sector is essential to the nations' armed force defense needs This fact has been the principle singularity of the sector until only recently. That is, the aeronautical industrial sector was strongly conditioned by governments and had become a public good as a strategic defense sector. Although this tendency is still latent, at present the institutional framework of the sector is undergoing changes. The original impetus as a public sector in its beginnings still persists, but decisive steps are being taken to slowly move aeronautics away from its historical path. This change began to come about in the 1980s but the dynamic transition toward a new governance structure has not yet been completed. This evolution will be one of the concerns of this study. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.