Martin Mintel, head of the components and spares division at Czech Airlines Technics (CSAT), discusses the growing demand for parts repairs services along with spares.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact CSAT and how has it overcome the challenges?

Like every other company, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we struggled with the labor shortage. We are still looking for new engineers, especially for base maintenance. Along with base maintenance, CSAT also provides line maintenance. During the pandemic, the airports and airlines were not operating, so the major issue for us was how to keep our line maintenance technicians. Therefore, we came up with a solution and included them in our base maintenance team. 

Our component repair business also struggled as the aircraft weren’t flying. There was no work related to wheels and brakes in the workshop. This is something that was not easy at that time, but we had to wait and prepare for the future. During the pandemic we purchased a lot of material, including wheels and brakes for Airbus, Boeing and ATR aircraft. We used the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare for the huge demand.

Additionally, the pandemic brought us something we were not used to working with: we got several new customers, especially lessors. So, we learned how to work with them because they didn't use to maintain an aircraft [before] from the maintenance perspective, they just leased the aircraft. Now, 20% of our capacity is lessors for base maintenance. Additionally, we help the lessors with the component repairs as well. 

What are the challenges CSAT is facing in terms of supply chain and turnaround times (TAT) for parts repair? 

TATs are something that everybody is looking at the moment. It’s not about the price or availability, but if you can deliver in a short lead time—especially during the summer season—that will help you to win new contracts. We purchased a lot of material, and we changed some processes in the repair shops as well. I can say that, currently, if we promise, for instance, maximum 15 days to our client for the overhaul of the brake, we are able to deliver within 15 days. 

For us, it is not a major hurdle because we stocked the materials and prepared for the summer season demand. For instance, we have stocked more than 100 tires and therefore we can deliver much faster and have shorter lead times for the overhaul of wheels or just offer an exchange due to the stocks availability. And, similar with brake or slide. 

In terms of supply chain, the main issue is the tires and heat sinks. OEMs are not able to deliver what they are promising to everyone. We are hearing that OEMs are struggling with the labor shortage, materials and, thus, unable to deliver on time. Therefore, lack of the availability of materials and parts is the main issue. We currently have stocked a lot of spare parts, heat sinks and tires but it is still not enough for the summer season demand.  

How did CSAT position itself to meet growing demand for component repairs and spare parts in the region? 

The demand for component repair is huge. During the pandemic, many aircraft were grounded, scrapped and disassembled. The MROs and repair shops don’t have enough capacity to cover all the demand because the fleets are growing now. 

There is definitely a huge demand for the component repair shops and everyone is trying to push the repair shops for shorter lead times. Even the biggest players in the market are struggling with the lack of availability of materials. 

Over the last couple years, we have heavily invested in purchasing the materials in advance, including wheels, brakes, slides and rafts. We are currently trying to renew our stocks and trade with the spare parts, and with further investments we are trying to meet the current demand. 

Is CSAT facing any labor shortage challenges? What initiatives are you incorporating to keep skilled workers and attract new talent? 

Everyone is struggling with the labor and it’s not an easy task to attract new people. Currently, for us, everything is going well and the business is expanding as well. It’s not only about the shortage of labor but it’s about how to keep people. I guess it is a challenge for everyone to retain in-house staff. We do need to find new staff. 

We see that young talent is coming in the industry, but not as fast as we want. We have several contracts with the schools in the Czech Republic for engineers. To attract the new talent, we have several benefits, such as special bonuses for their trial period. We also cover their licenses as well. The license training is very costly and this is the way you can attract someone who is young and doesn’t have enough money to fly somewhere for their engineer training. 

What are CSAT's future expansion plans? 

We are currently planning to extend our approach to the U.S. region with respect to consumable parts. We have an e-commerce portal where we sell consumable material everyday. It is something huge for us as it’s very popular for all the MROs and airlines in the European region and would be more popular in the U.S. region. 

We would like to be better known as an exchange provider because we do approximately 50 exchanges monthly, mainly wheels, brakes and slides for Airbus A320 aircraft and also Boeing 737 and ATR aircraft due to our stock availability. Along with our line, base and landing gear maintenance business, our component and spare parts division is also a huge part of the company. 

We are also trying to expand our capabilities for the Airbus A220 aircraft because it’s the future. So, we are currently trying to extend our repair capabilities for A220, Neo and MAX. Additionally, we are planning to open a new aircraft paint shop next year. We are currently re-constructing our line maintenance hangar, which will serve as a paint shop facility and help us deliver our clients one-stop shop solution.