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Extended Aircraft Life Spans Drive MRO Capacity Additions In Europe

Job Air Technic MRO shop

Job Air Technic has optimized its slot management to prioritize long-term partners and airlines with predictable maintenance intervals.

Credit: Job Air Technic

The ongoing extension of commercial aircraft service life is expected to place additional pressure on the already constrained capacity of MRO facilities. Addressing this challenge will require MRO providers to build up technical skills, capacity and forward-looking tech strategies.

Industry trends indicate that aircraft are staying in commercial service longer than planned. Czech aftermarket provider Job Air Technic has witnessed a pronounced uptick in demand for heavy maintenance, driven by airlines deferring fleet renewal because of OEM delivery delays and capital expenditure constraints.

Shifting Trends

Job Air Technic Chief Commercial Officer Kaspars Podins says longer aircraft life spans have shifted significant pressure onto MRO facilities, especially with aging airliners operating beyond their originally planned retirement horizons.

“This is particularly evident with the Airbus A320ceo and A330ceo family,” Podins says. “Airlines are extracting additional cycles from these assets, but that inevitably results in more complex and time-intensive heavy maintenance checks, structural inspections and corrosion mitigation tasks.”

As Podins observes, this shift has significantly increased the volume of work packages and the depth of required inspections, tightening capacity at Job Air facilities.

Juozas Lapeika, deputy CEO for base maintenance at FL Technics, has seen the aging customer fleet significantly raise demand for heavy maintenance services. As aircraft life spans extend, Lapeika reports, maintenance checks grow more extensive and complex, often uncovering larger and more significant findings that require substantial attention and resources. “This complexity has, in turn, increased the duration of heavy maintenance checks,” he notes.

Additionally, Lapeika says, challenges in sourcing necessary components have further extended the duration of maintenance checks, hindering both aircraft maintenance support and overall operational efficiency. “We expect this trend to continue until OEMs reach aircraft manufacturing rates sufficient to meet demand or until global aircraft demand decreases,” he adds.

Under current conditions, MRO providers must demonstrate exceptional flexibility to accommodate short-notice requests, while airlines and aircraft operators are increasingly compelled to revise fleet plans as operational and maintenance realities evolve.

Marcus Motschenbacher, vice president and chief operations officer for aircraft maintenance services at Lufthansa Technik (LHT), believes this often results in unscheduled maintenance checks—unanticipated in terms of available hangar slots, material availability or allocated budget—that place additional strain on already limited MRO resources.

Delayed aircraft deliveries are a primary reason airlines keep older aircraft in service longer, including those intended for early retirement. Motschenbacher cites the Airbus A380 as a prime example of this phenomenon. The type initially faced potential retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, he explains, but “airlines have reactivated more of this aircraft type than expected, and consequently, the A380 is now facing a significant demand for heavy checks.”

Early new-generation aircraft, such as the Boeing 787 and the slightly later Airbus A350, are approaching the 12-year check interval. “This significantly increases the demand for more time-consuming layovers, a challenge that our newly developed capabilities, such as those at our LHT Malta facility, are well equipped to handle,” Motschenbacher says.

Aircraft mechanic at work
Magnetic MRO is hiring and training more licensed engineers and technicians, including through international partnerships. Credit: Magnetic MRO

Efficiency Gains

MROs are employing various strategies to respond to the growing maintenance workload. Job Air Technic is applying a multiprong approach, starting with optimizing slot management to prioritize long-term program partners and airlines with predictable maintenance intervals. “We’ve also been investing in workforce expansion, recruiting and training new technicians through partnerships with vocational institutions combined with our in-house training,” Podins says.

Moreover, Job Air Technic is actively advancing its digital capabilities through JATIS, a suite of tools for maintenance resource planning and task tracking that the provider says significantly streamline turnaround times and enhance productivity.

The company is also progressing toward full digitization of work cards and paperless maintenance. Furthermore, it is enhancing its systems with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted predictive maintenance capabilities, particularly for customers that provide access to their operational data, improving maintenance outcomes.

Similarly, Lapeika reports that FL Technics has fully digitized its operations. He says this approach provides the company with a clear view of project budgets to manage them more efficiently and reduce turnaround times.

“Additionally, we have digitized and streamlined our workshop tools, such as the 3D dent-mapping tool and other advanced solutions available in the market,” he says.

FL Technics also has incorporated predictive AI into its online statistics warehouse to anticipate potential defects, drawing on its maintenance experience. By leveraging historical data, the system can identify patterns associated with complex findings, thereby improving the company’s ability to maintain stock levels of critical materials and components that caused bottlenecks in past projects.

Meanwhile, LHT is making strategic investments to address a sustained increase in maintenance demand, extending beyond the current surge driven by delayed aircraft deliveries. The company is expanding horizontally by increasing capacity and vertically by broadening its service offerings, including leveraging its unique position as a Boeing-licensed service center for 787 cabin modifications.

LHT’s strategies to meet growing demand include significantly expanding its workforce and infrastructure. In 2024 alone, the provider hired over 1,300 new employees across the global network, from Puerto Rico to Manila, Philippines. LHT Malta also has initiated the construction of a 6,400-m2 (69,000-ft.2) hangar dedicated to base maintenance services, particularly for 787 cabin modifications.

The company is also advancing process efficiency by implementing a fully digitized production system that eliminates paper from the shop floor and reconfigures the production setup. Combined with AI-powered tools and the Aviatar customer interface, LHT claims these innovations enhance productivity and shorten turnaround times, ultimately increasing throughput within the constraints of existing capacity.

Magnetic MRO is also leveraging digital solutions such as Swiss-AS’ AMOS maintenance software to enhance work planning, shorten turnaround and optimize operations. According to Magnetic MRO Managing Director Jan Kotka, the company is further advancing its capabilities through AI-driven material procurement and improvements to internal logistics and operational efficiency.

“We are also hiring and training more licensed engineers and technicians, including through international partnerships and our own academy,” Kotka says. Magnetic is building three new hangars in Tallinn, Estonia, as well, plus a dedicated painting hangar to handle more aircraft and services.

Aircraft tail in Lufthansa Technik Philippines hangar
The delayed delivery of new aircraft led airlines to reactivate Airbus A380s, which now face significant demand for heavy checks. Credit: Lufthansa Technik

CAPACITY CRUNCH

In heavy maintenance, Magnetic MRO is operating at full capacity during the peak season from September to May. Kotka says the company’s base in Tallinn is consistently booked out more than three years in advance, indicating sustained demand for its services and perhaps the efficiency of its long-term planning. He says Magnetic’s global line maintenance stations are also at full capacity in most locations.

Job Air is operating beyond normal capacity as well, especially during seasonal heavy maintenance peaks, Podins says, adding that narrowbody maintenance lines continue to see bookings extending into the second quarter and beginning to fill up for the third several months in advance. Major checks typically carry a lead time of 25-35 days, though the schedule remains susceptible to cyclical bottlenecks—particularly during winter layovers and peak lease return periods.

That said, the Czech MRO aims to preserve operational agility by maintaining contingency capacity for aircraft-on-ground events and short-notice assignments, supported by a “go team.” “We also work closely with customers to align maintenance schedules with their operational downtimes,” Podins says.

During the winter months, all of LHT’s bays operate at full capacity. “However, in the [Europe, Middle East and Africa] region, we experience a lower induction rate during the summer months, with less seasonal fluctuation in our facilities in Puerto Rico and Manila,” Motschenbacher says.

Given LHT’s strong base load from long-term contracts with customers both within and outside the Lufthansa Group, Motschenbacher expects stability through 2028. “With the current technical recruitment levels, we are on track to reach a high level of expertise and nearly full capacity by the end of 2025,” he says.

FL Technics is in a similar situation as it operates at full capacity. Lapeika explains that the strategy is balancing stability and flexibility by maintaining 60% of the work load through long-term contracts with Tier 1 clients while allocating the remaining 40% to market-driven opportunities to optimize utilization and flexibility.

The company sees strong potential for growth through expanded capacity and added maintenance lines. To support this, FL Technics has invested in talent development through its own academy and scholarship programs, inducting 100 new professionals to its Lithuanian base maintenance facilities this year alone.

Keith Mwanalushi

Keith Mwanalushi primarily writes about the global commercial aviation aftermarket and has more than 10 years of experience covering it. He is based in the UK.

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