At Aviation Week’s MRO Europe event in Amsterdam last year, one of the dominant topics was supply chain challenges and the ongoing impact they were having on the region’s aftermarket.
Despite a sharp increase in traffic over the past three years leading to robust maintenance demand, the continent has been beset by lack of MRO capacity and labor, extended turnaround times and more recently, carriers suffering the lingering effects of new engine program durability issues and delivery delays of new aircraft.
One year later, on the eve of MRO Europe 2024 taking place in Barcelona, and coming off the back of a busy summer season, the picture for Europe’s aftermarket is similar. Encouragingly, slight improvements to the European supply chain have been noted throughout this year but nevertheless, it will likely be a main pillars of discussion in Barcelona.
A recent snapshot of the region’s ongoing supply chain challenges came from Spanish airline Air Europa in the latest edition of Inside MRO. In that issue, Pedro Macías Domínguez, the airline’s chief technical officer, reported difficulties in getting widebody maintenance and painting slots while citing parts shortages as being among the primary afflictions it faces as a carrier. “These part shortages are the most relevant problem that we have nowadays in our industry,” he says. “Not only for the lack of parts in the market but because of the escalation in pricing due to the low offer and high demand.”
In comparison to other global regions, Europe has been a world leader in sustainability initiatives owing to strategies and targets laid out by governments and regulators on the continent, with sustainability an increasing driver of procurement strategies.
A byproduct of this is a move to localize repair networks, with maintenance work previously outsourced to far flung destinations being returned to a closer geographical radius. Not only is this a sustainability play but also something airlines have sought in airframes, engines and component maintenance.
Last year, several speakers discussed the possibility of nearshoring maintenance repairs and the past 12 months will provide a measure of how this strategy has gained momentum. The topic of nearshoring vs offshoring in relation to procurement and facility expansion is one of the main panel sessions on day one at MRO Europe.
Absorbing future demand increases, through methods such as efficiency drives--essentially doing more with less--and technology adoption such as predictive maintenance tools, is expected to be prioritized by MRO providers as demand continues to grow in Europe’s fleet over the next decade. This future fleet is expected to be dominated by Airbus-manufactured aircraft, which will account for 49% of Europe’s fleet by 2034.
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