Before the airlines were deregulated, the majority of air carriers conducted their maintenance in-house. After deregulation, with competitive pressures mounting and airlines failing and starting up seemingly simultaneously, the outsourcing of maintenance became more prevalent. Not restricted to U.S. airlines, outsourcing maintenance has become a global practice. Factors involved in the outsourcing decision range from a startup not having the capital to develop their own in-house maintenance program, to legacy carrier's cost cutting efforts, and all points in between. This paper will address specific aspects of the global outsourcing of aircraft maintenance. For the purposes of this paper, Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) and maintenance are used synonymously.Keywords: Maintenace Repair Overhaul, Outsourcing, Maintenance
Global Outsourcing of Aircraft MaintenanceFor those who study the airline industry, and more specifically, aircraft maintenance, it is a well-known fact that airlines are not in the aircraft maintenance business. However, the importance of quality, compliant, cost effective maintenance cannot be overstated. Estimates for the total cost of aircraft maintenance range from 10% to 15% of an air carrier's budget
Fractional ownership of business aircraft has evolved into a major force affecting not only business aviation, but also all of general aviation. This paper provides a history of fiactional ownership, an explanation of how it works, the climate that has fostered its growth, how it compares to other "traditional" means of air travel, and an examination of challenges affecting its future. There are three key findings in this paper. The fxst is that a range of usefulness has evolved for fractional aircraft ownership as compared to total aircraft ownership or charter services. This range of usefulness, based on a compilation of data fiom several authors, is between 145 and 387.5 annual flight hours. Second is that fiactional ownership has redefined the business aircraft consumer, reducing the up-front acquisition cost and providing convenient access to busin&s aircraft. An individual with an annual income of $10 million or a company with annual revenue of $30 million have become, through hctional ownership programs, the new business jet consumer target markets. Third is that fiactional ownership has had a major commercial and economic impact on general aviation due to tremendous growth rates. Key sources used in compiling this paper included articles fiom a number of aviation industry publications and journals, as well as government publications.
This article presents the results of a follow-up survey administered to 1 10 former university interns who served a semester long internship in the fight operations department at United Airlines. The intent of the survey was to discover if the purposes of the internship had been fulfilled. Also, the survey gathered information on the characteristics of the internship participants in terms of their current employment in the aviation industry with the goal of discovering, among other things, how many of the interns were ultimately hired by United Airlines. A total of 78 of the 1 10 interns surveyed returned a completed survey. The results indicated that over half (41 of 78) of the respondents had, indeed, been hired in a pilot position by a major airline with the vast majority of these (36 or 41 hired by a major) hired by United Airlines. Of those not hired by United Airlines, only two are no longer in aviation while the rest are employed at other major airlines, regional airlines, corporate flight departments or in some part of general aviation such as flight instruction.
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