Research shows air transport demand is expected to increase by more than 4% per year during the next two decades. This means the air transportation industry is likely to contribute more than 15 million jobs worldwide. It also adds more than a trillion dollars to the global economy.
Keeping your aircraft operational is critical to your organization's success. This is why outsourcing your aircraft maintenance services is a wise move. Let's explore more of the benefits of outsourcing aircraft maintenance.
MRO Services
Aircraft maintenance is also called maintenance, repair, and overhaul, or MRO. Outsourcing your MRO responsibility will help ensure your aircraft remain in excellent condition.
A reputable provider will perform timely maintenance that helps prevent your airplanes from developing more complex or costly problems.
Do you have an older aircraft fleet? Hiring a provider of MRO services is especially important for your business. Aging airplanes require more extensive inspections as they get older, which may in turn require additional resources and parts you may not have with your in-house support team.
Outsource Aircraft Maintenance Services
Outsourcing aircraft maintenance allows your company to save time on specialized maintenance tasks and concentrate on more crucial aspects of your business. These important aspects include making sure your passengers are safe, providing reliable journeys, and keeping your services up to date.
Low Maintenance Costs
Hiring an aircraft maintenance company may help you reduce your overall maintenance costs. Outsourcing will allow your company more flexibility to scale up or down on maintenance processes as needed rather than having a full team of in-house aircraft maintenance technicians to cover every aspect required to maintain your aircraft.
The cost savings realized through outsourcing may especially benefit aircraft companies with smaller budgets by enabling them to more quickly expand their businesses and enhance their service quality.
Outsourcing aircraft maintenance offers further savings when it comes to the cost of ongoing training requirements for in-house technicians and aircraft engineers. You also won't have to invest in specialist equipment and additional hangar space.
Plane Safety
Another reason to outsource aircraft maintenance services is that it will help ensure your entire fleet of aircraft are safe for transport. Older planes require more comprehensive maintenance procedures, but building a highly skilled company team to check your older aircraft can be challenging and expensive. This is where outsourcing shines. A dependable aircraft maintenance company has the experience, skills, resources, and fast access to spare parts to repair older aircraft.
Improved Maintenance Services
Yet another benefit of outsourcing aircraft maintenance is that you'll have access to cutting-edge repair technologies. Your repair company will also have updated maintenance facilities for your aircraft, so you don't have to fund these yourself.
Highly rated aircraft maintenance companies have teams with specialized skill sets and expertise you may not have in-house, which can also augment the services provided by your in-house team. Outsourcing maintenance will ultimately help you focus more on your company's capabilities.
MRO Outsourcing Model Options
Aircraft operators typically use one of several MRO models depending on their unique needs. Let's review these models and which ones may work best for your company.
Wholly Outsourced Maintenance
This model involves outsourcing 100% of your aircraft maintenance services. It's the ideal choice for a startup airline that wants to avoid assuming responsibility for MRO due to lack of funds or because establishing a maintenance function isn't part of the company's core business plan.
Mostly Outsourced Maintenance
Airlines choose this model if they want an MRO service provider to handle their most pressing and significant needs based on their company requirements. They'll rely on the MRO service to handle most of their fleet technical management tasks.
Partially Outsourced Maintenance
An air carrier with multiple kinds of aircraft may select this model. Partially outsourcing MRO will let them handle most of their aircraft maintenance in-house. They'll depend on their MRO service provider to handle complex plane maintenance tasks requiring specialized knowledge and expertise.
Fully Integrated Maintenance
No plane maintenance tasks are outsourced when this model is used. This approach may be appropriate for an air carrier with a large budget and a massive fleet containing many kinds of aircraft. Outsourcing MRO makes more sense for a smaller carrier since it allows them to focus on other critical parts of their business as mentioned earlier.
What to Look For in MRO Providers
Search for a company with multiple hangars to accommodate several clients' aircraft at once. The best companies also have at least a decade of experience performing aircraft line maintenance and heavy checks.
A skilled MRO service provider will consistently be punctual and work to reduce their turnaround times. This means less aircraft downtime for your company and a better profit long-term. Ask for examples from their previous clients to find out how timely they've been on past jobs.
You may also want to ask how up-to-date your prospective MRO service provider's repair procedures are and what benefits they are able to offer you. Some aircraft maintenance companies focus on older airplanes, so they're slow to purchase the technology needed to maintain new-gen airframes.
Newer planes have enhanced IT platforms that use artificial intelligence, big data, or predictive maintenance. Big data can help aircraft companies gather information, such as flight schedule data, and make decisions to improve their services. Use predictive maintenance to determine what parts of your planes may need replacing so that you can then fix these areas before they break down. The best aircraft maintenance companies have invested in equipment to service newer aircraft. Top companies also continually undergo training.
Another important quality of a third-party airplane maintenance company is a solid safety record. Dependable maintenance companies use quality safety management systems to deliver the best support and service to their clients.
How We Can Help With Plane Maintenance
Outsourcing aircraft maintenance services offers several benefits, including cost savings, time savings, help you provide safer aircraft, and help you improve your flight services.
At MIAVIA, we take pride in offering high-quality MRO services. Our services range from line maintenance to painting. We can also arrange aircraft components repairs and modifications to your plane's interior.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our services, and partner with us today!
