| AvecoTEC
puts 21st century commercial airline maintenance practices into
plain view for all to see. As the aviation industry faces
intense challenges from economic, environmental, and regulatory
forces, it's critical that safety continues to be the focal point
of this profession. AvecoTEC stresses the requirement of
transparency in maintenance organizations in the U.S. and abroad
in an effort to cultivate an effective, efficient and compliant
industry.
Outsourcing vs. In House Maintenance
Click the graph below
to enlarge
 As a forerunner in global expansion, the commercial
aviation industry has for decades operated in every corner of the
world. The resulting environment has evolved into a state
where companies that operate
aircraft to transport passengers and cargo have routinely relied
on bi-lateral agreements to secure overseas support for normal
everyday aircraft maintenance tasks. This has afforded
operators the ability to leverage the expertise of technical and
engineering resources across a large spectrum of operators, OEMs
(original equipment manufacturers) and MRO (maintenance repair and
overhaul) organizations. The net effect will continue to be the case far into the
future, because a single operator cannot be at all places at all
times; it's not practical or economical. Airlines will
continue to outsource to a larger scale.
That said, it's
apparent by studying the chart above that "line maintenance" is
the area where outsourcing is least expected to grow. I'll
mention a term here that we will cover in more detail later, but
remember MAGSA - Mutual Assistance Ground Service Agreement.
The MAGSA rate list is published by IATA and reflects the rates
which airlines charge one another for services rendered, including
ground handling and maintenance services. These agreements
are handled by a standard cookie cutter agreement called the SGHA
(Standard Ground Handling Agreement). The SGHA includes the
"Main Agreement", "Annex A" and "Annex B".
AHM 810 is the IATA Standard Ground Handling Agreement. The IATA SGHA contracts have a very specific
filing and numbering system by which they are kept up to date.
SGHA's can typically be cancelled by a 30 day notification letter
to the providing supplier at which time the services and payments
will cease. IATA SGHA AHM 810 is updated every 5 years by
the IATA organization. For more information or to get a copy
of the actual standard agreements please visit
www.iata.org.
There is also a training manual that instructs on the usage of the
IATA agreements available from the IATA website.
Only 10 - 15% of line maintenance is
outsourced because:
- LMS is seen as critical to
on-time departures, therefore it's considered part of the core
business
- Affordability and availability
of suppliers and vendors at airports is difficult to find
- In many cases, the supplier
would tap the same labor pool, which depreciates the value of
using a supplier
Maintenance Sectors by MRO Annual Spend
Click the graph below
to enlarge
The chart at left demonstrates the overall
MRO spend each year on airline commercial maintenance.
This is the spend on approximately 19,000 commercial airliners
comprised of Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer and a few small
others. The chart does not include
general aviation, military or business jets that are in service
for private purposes. North
America and Europe maintain 66% of the commercial fleet with
Asia operating 20% of these 19,000 aircraft.
As you can see from the pie chart above,
the various major sectors of aircraft maintenance are broken
down into:
- Engines
- Line maintenance
- Components
- Airframe
- Modifications
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