Why carrier stores compete with aircraft for hangar space

Photographs of HMS Queen Elizabeth on a long-range deployment show only part of the hangar occupied by aircraft and much of it packed with boxed stores. The side gantries and storage arrangements can be removed to make room for a larger air group, but extra aircraft also require more spares, weapons, and consumables. Moving those stores out of the hangar shifts the burden onto replenishment and support shipping. The passage turns a nominal maximum aircraft count into a practical logistics tradeoff between embarked aircraft and the supplies needed to sustain them.