Because landing gear maintenance is based on calendar time, and not flight hours or schedules, this is a bright spot in Revima’s business. The MRO has had to deal with logistics issues and changes to airline schedules, however, to transport the gear.

Because its cargo and freight airline customers are operating intensively due to the unavailability of belly cargo in passenger fleets, Revima has seen a steady demand for both landing gear and auxiliary power unit (APU) maintenance from them. APUs are maintained on condition.

However, most of Revima’s customers have extensively grounded their fleets, so “we are obviously seeing a decrease in the demand for MRO events,” says President Olivier Legrand.

Revima rapidly implemented protective for its employees at the beginning of virus outbreak. Some of the main actions include strict routines for regular and rigorous cleaning of work areas, preventing close contact among staff, preventing symptomatic people from entering the workplace and allowing eligible support staff to work from home.

The traffic crisis is driving Revima to reorganize its operations and adjust its resources to reduce costs. The MRO seeks to maintain delivery performance as close as possible to what it would be in normal times. It continuously monitors and addresses challenges in logistics and supply chains. “At this point in time, we have not faced any major disruption that could severely impact our operations,” Legrand says.

Revima is assuming that MRO demand will continue to be significantly depressed in the second and third quarters of 2020, followed by a progressive recovery as airlines restart operations. Legrand predicts airlines will to return new aircraft to service that require less maintenance first. But he also thinks deliveries of more new aircraft will be cancelled or delayed, so as the recovery accelerates, older platforms will stay in service longer and generate MRO demand. “We also are planning that single-aisle aircraft will recover earlier than long-range and anticipate it will take several years to return to pre-Covid-19 MRO volumes.”

Meanwhile, the French government has made available multiple aids to protect French industry and jobs. Some of the measures include government-funded partial unemployment, deferral of various social and tax charges and special financial tools. “We are using most of the tools to support operations and our customers in these difficult times,” Legrand says.