The Rabbit Hole Of Aviation Aftermarket History

Did you know that the acronym “MRO”—so widely used in our industry today—was born from Aviation Week’s MRO ’96, the first MRO Americas?

I skimmed every issue of Overhaul & Maintenance (this magazine’s original name) from its inception in 1993 until early 1996—as well as Aviation Week & Space Technology issues around that time—to verify this. No “MRO.” However, the term “MRO” started appearing in both magazines in March 1996—the month MRO ’96 took place.

This research took me down a rabbit hole of aviation aftermarket history from the mid-1990s. The overarching theme I found was a nascent understanding of opportunities to capitalize on making global airframe maintenance overcapacity more efficient.

Legacy carriers were restructuring—one step of which often involved making their maintenance businesses separate profit centers. Air France Industries, Lufthansa Technik and SIA Engineering Co. (SIAEC) were born. HAECO was forming joint ventures HAESL and TAECO. Asian companies targeted customers from the outsourcing trend, so they built big hangars to leverage their lower labor rates and cater to small, local low-cost airlines that needed service. OEMs started looking for revenue outside of manufacturing and eyed the aftermarket.

Airlines started evaluating whether their balance sheets could sustain the amount of inventory on their shelves. Aviall updated its 1,600-page parts catalog. Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air Services planned to pool spare parts for their new Boeing 777s, which could save $5 million each year. FedEx Aviation Services was selling hush kits for Boeing 727s.

Some of the big names in North American independent MROs were AAR, BFGoodrich Aerospace, Pemco, Timco and UNC.

Maintenance overcapacity was starting to drive some consolidations—but it still left a very fragmented market.

The market was “largely underappreciated and not managed very well,” says George Ebbs, the former Canaan Group president who worked closely with Aviation Week to launch MRO ’96. Airlines were spending many millions of dollars to keep aircraft flying safely, but “no one ever talked about it,” he says.

All these factors led Aviation Week to launch the first MRO event March 10-12, 1996, to bring industry leaders together to exchange ideas, solve problems and advance the industry. The first event attracted 540 attendees, and last year it exceeded 17,000.

“Seeing MRO Americas today really highlights how far the industry has come,” Adrian Paull, recently retired Acron Aviation senior vice president, tells me. “What began as a relatively intimate gathering has grown into the global center of gravity for the aviation aftermarket. The scale is dramatically larger, and the technologies on display are far more sophisticated, yet the core purpose of the event remains unchanged. It still brings together the people responsible for keeping aircraft flying safely and reliably.”

Even though it is a technical industry, people relationships are imperative.

As Jon Oberdick, a retired American Airlines executive who attended MRO ’96 and many others, says: “My memories are how MRO Americas has grown over the years. What an amazing industry and the talent it showcases at the conference. The connections and friendships last a lifetime.”