Aircraft_Maintenance_Technology_January-February_2020 - 12

COVER STORY

eavy checks are hard. Put a
transport category airplane in
a hangar. Disassemble it into its
simple parts. Inspect it. Repair
what you find. Reassemble the
whole mess in a way that makes
everything work again. Deliver it
on time at a predicted date and
within a budget. That's hard.
It's no wonder so many airlines do not invest in the
skills and material requirements that are needed to
make just one check delivery a success, let alone a
heavy check line. Taking on heavy checks is essentially
operating a separate company within the air carrier.

Why Outsource?
Traditionally, airlines had large maintenance organizations installed in large hangars that were small cities
made up of technicians and specialists doing everything from interior touch up to Large D check airframe
overhauls. Some carriers still do. American Airlines'
maintenance facility in Tulsa, OK is a fine example.
Other reasons that airlines outsourced include:
* If an airline maintains its own fleet, they may outsource maintenance requirements in excess of
their baseline capacity. Air Carriers having their
own hangar resources for heavy checks have the
challenges of maintaining their check lines so that
peaks and valleys in aircraft utilization don't drive
similar peaks and valleys in resource needs.

The current trend of outsourcing has evolved. The MRO
industry has grown to accommodate the capacity and
technical demands that outsourcing created.
* New aircraft may require outsourced maintenance
for a specific aircraft type until internal resources
are developed for bringing work in-house.
* Air carriers contract out for specific maintenance
functions such as engine repair, overhaul or system
component repair.
These reasons are still relevant to today's use of
outside maintenance providers.
After deregulation in the 80's, folks began to
think about reducing costs. Start ups, and regionals
especially, had very narrow margins of profitability.
With maintenance costs taking up to 40 percent of
an air carrier's cost structure, outsourcing became
an attractive option. An operator could reduce cost
by transferring traditional overhead to maintenance

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

providers. This allowed air carriers to focus on valueadded efforts, supporting fleet growth and passenger
loads. In addition, the proliferation of smaller budget
carriers made outsourcing a strategy that contributed
to their profitability.
The current trend of outsourcing has evolved.
The MRO industry has grown to accommodate the
capacity and technical demands that outsourcing
created. In recent years, MRO surplus capacity has
decreased. Concurrently, labor rates demanded by
MROs have increased to a level that encourages investment in facilities and equipment. Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) have decided that MRO is an
important source of income, post aircraft sale. Having
particular aircraft knowledge, skilled work forces and
access to efficient supply chains, they have a leg up
on enticing air carriers to contract with them as they
acquire MRO capabilities.

Mitigation and Controls
Air carriers and the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) have invested heavily in the procedural infrastructure that promotes safer operations using out
sourced maintenance - whether foreign or domestic. The following reasons contribute to maintenance
provider performance.

REGULATION
FAA regulations have been enhanced specifically to
address outsourcing at all levels - 14 CFR Part 121.368
was designed to address maintenance provider oversight by the air carriers. It describes and directs robust
oversight used to assure that contractors do all work
in accordance with the air carrier's continuous airworthiness maintenance program (CAMP). While many
lament a lack of FAA oversight for maintenance providers, the reality is oversight is maintained by air carrier
programs that manage maintenance providers. As it
always has - operators have real clout when it comes
to addressing performance deviations by maintenance
providers. The FAA is good at approving and addressing repair station issues tied to Part 145, but the quality
of the maintenance provider's output has always been
in the control of the operator contracting the work.

CONTINUOUS ANALYSIS AND
SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (CASS)
(REF 14CFR PART 121.373)
Each air carrier maintains a program to assess the
effectiveness of its program to include aircraft reliability and maintenance provider performance. CASS
programs actually approve a maintenance provider
for use by the air carrier. They accomplish audits and

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY

Aircraft_Maintenance_Technology_January-February_2020

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