The history of GLARE laminate was introduced. Through comparison with conventional aluminum alloy sheets, the excellent performance of GLARE as a new generation aeronautic material is discussed. The properties and application of GLARE in large civil aircraft indicates that new composite materials such as GLARE will replace bulk aluminum alloy in future aircraft structure. With the continuous development of material technologies, a trend of developing high strength and low cost composite materials will lead aviation industry to a new stage.