Firms that acquire, repair and resell used parts reduce the cost burdens of airlines in several ways. Parts move efficiently from where they are expensive excess to where they are affordable requirements. Lifetime value of old parts is exploited fully. Airlines need not stock inventories for exceptional events when parts can be obtained reliably. And the value of retired aircraft is maximized as all useful components are extracted.

Boeing's GAIN program would not be possible without the network of global service centers that Boeing began building in 1987. The network stretches from Seattle and Los Angeles on the U.S. West Coast to Atlanta in the southeast U.S., London in the U.K., Dubai in the Middle East and Beijing and Singapore in Asia. Boeing officially opened its eighth service center in Amsterdam in April 2000. Amsterdam shipped about 70,000 parts in 2000 and looks like it will do about the same volume this year, according to Russ Vaughn, who manages the six centers outside the U.S.

With the globalization of the air transport industry and the blurring of international borders by alliances and joint ventures, aircraft operators and lessors from the U.S. are looking further afield for maintenance, repair and overhaul services.