Aircraft Maintenance Management Module Aircraft Maintenance Introduction

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General definition
Maintenance cost is broadly defined as the sum of

incurred labour, material costs and various overheads otherwise known as indirect maintenance costs. The labour is normally a process time controlled and productivity related where certain tools such as lean processes or Six sigma can be employed to enhance productivity and consequently improve consumed labour. The material element is dependant on negotiated suppliers contracts and products reliability programs.
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1. Aircraft Maintenance Cost Philosophies & Economics

The maintenance costs represent 10-20% of the

worldwide airlines direct operating costs. These costs are growing in view of introduction of new more

expensive

material,

highly

sophisticated

repair

schemes especially those associated with structural parts and core Engine parts, and increasing labour costs.
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 Boeing suggests that there are many other influencing

factors to the maintenance costs such as Aircraft utilisation, Environment and Age. Furthermore,

Airlines influence costs of its operations and

maintenance support practices; similarly component Manufactures reliability.
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influence

product

support

and

 The Airlines overall maintenance costs are categorised

as Controllable and Non Controllable Costs. The controllable cost element is further split into

contractual and non contractual costs. The contractual

cost elements are either outsourced or accomplished In-house depending on potential benefits or savings in the short or long runs.
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 Thus it is of extreme importance to understand all

elements of airlines maintenance costs and contain such costs where practicable through introduction of

processes and manpower improvements, enhanced

training and optimisation of maintenance interval requirement for both ON/OFF aircraft maintenance in liaison with the OEMs.
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 The Airline industry currently under tremendous

pressure in light of the current downturn reducing demand especially on premium cabin, hence the

competition which resulted in fares reduction and

subsequently low yields than breakeven costs.

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2. Maintenance Costs (Direct /Indirect) Breakdown

The Maintenance costs are the sums of total costs

pertain to Direct and Indirect Maintenance. Per IATA, Direct Maintenance comprises the following, by Cost segment:
- Airframe, Engines and component maintenance. And

by cost element: Labour, Material and Outside repair Where, Indirect Maintenance includes the Overheads

costs.
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 Boeing elaborates on these definitions further as

follows: - Direct Maintenance Cost is, the direct airframe and Engine maintenance which consist of the labour and material required to perform service, repair, modification, restoration, inspection, test, and troubleshooting tasks during on-airplane and shop maintenance activities.

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 Maintenance Overhead consists of maintenance

supervision, maintenance training, maintenance planning, unallocated labour costs, rentals and Utilities.

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 We have to understand the elements that comprise the

Direct Maintenance Cost (DMC) and Indirect Maintenance Cost (IMC). The breakdown of these

costs is:
2.1 Direct maintenance costs 2.2 Indirect maintenance costs

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2.1.1

ON aircraft maintenance

This type of maintenance is normally carried out

during the scheduled aircraft checks as defined by the Manufacturers MPD documents where an extensive

part of Labour Man-hours is expended as compared to

materials consumed such as filters, oil, greases, fittings and minor structural parts.

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 Additionally, allotted portion of check time is

dedicated to tests, inspection, minor airframe corrections and components removals which are due for routine maintenance. IATA as shown in Figure (1) below refer to this maintenance category as 1st Level Maintenance costs segments that include Airframe and Engines Labour, materials and subcontracted work.

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1. Maintenance Cost Breakdown

1- Direct Maintenance Cost Airframe / Engine Component / Overview On Aircraft Off Aircraft
- Labor - Material - Subcontracted - Labor - Material - Subcontracted - Labor - Material - Subcontracted

1st Level : Total Cost during period

2nd Level : Cost per Maintenance Event

Labor (MH) - routine - non routine - modifications - cabin ...

Material - P/N - Quantity - Cost ...

Per Remove - MSN - ETT - Repair Cost ...

Detailed listing - P/N - Quantity - MTBUR - Repair Cost ...

Maintenance Cost Task Force 2009

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Aircraft Maintenance Costs in Perspective

Life cycle cost Total operating cost Direct operating cost Financial Insurance Crew
AIRBUS S.A.S. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary document.

Disposal cost

Indirect operating cost Passenger services Marketing and sales Indirect maintenance cost Other

Direct maintenance cost Landing & Navigation fees Fuel and oil Cash operating cost

Aircraft Maintenance Costs - Guest Lecture - Cranfield University - March 2009 - CSMAM - Ref. D09005085 Issue 1

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2.1.2 OFF Aircraft Maintenance

This is normally carried out away from aircraft on Engines

and components in either In house or outsourced overhaul shops as these costs comprise expended labour, material, testing and modifications.
The above two categories are generally split as per below

percentages.

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 The ON aircraft Maintenance checks are further summarised as

follows:
1. Aircraft Transit checks- this is a normal minor check that

occurs every flight where walk around is conducted by the Engineers to detect any obvious damage and/or discrepancy which my obstruct aircraft despatch or serviceability for further flights. Also aircraft Log books will be reviewed to clear or defer all recorded snags.
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1. Aircraft Service or Weekly checks- This check is a little

more extensive hours are expended in general visual inspections and overall Aircraft condition. Minor

modification (Engineering Orders) can be conducted and additional defects clearances which require extended times can be accomplished during this check.

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1. Aircraft A checks- This is a routine MPD check that

occurred almost every three months or 500 flight hours with various tasks scheduled for accomplishment. Few access panels, Engine cowlings and other doors will be opened to perform certain visual inspections and rectifications.

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1. Aircraft C checks- within this check the aircraft is grounded

for an extended time where many routine MPD tasks will be carried out. As majority of access panels are opened, a detailed visual inspection will be carried out on airframes linkages, structural fittings and main systems (such as oil, hydraulic and fuel) functional or leak checks and major components defect rectification. The interior cabin such as seats will be removed fro refurbishment. Galleys and toils will receive servicing and repairs.
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1. Heavy Aircraft checks or D checks as some airlines

call it. The aircraft will undergo a detailed visual inspection almost in every area including main structure where a NDT and application of special die pent rants will be carried out to detect possible skin cracks. Within the cabin the primary structural parts removed for corrosion

treatment especially galleys, floor panels and seat main

frames.
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OFF Aircraft Maintenance

The OFF aircraft Maintenance are further summarised

as follows: a) Engine Repair and Overhaul Maintenance during aircraft operations, The Engines are the most stressed items where every time the aircraft takes off, Engines parts rotate at a very high speed with thrust causing certain wear to such parts at an accelerated pace. Engine internal parts especially turbine and combustion chambers are manufactured from special materials in order to withstand the high temperatures and pressure put on the engine during operations.

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 Hence, the maintenance is often significant and expensive

and that is the reason where majority of airlines outsource engine maintenance to OEMs/MROs to alleviate the burden off airlines from investment in development of such highly sophisticated overhaul shops with special required repairs. Normally the Engine initial shop visits expenses from Aircraft induction to maturity is relatively less expensive than aging Engine maintenance as main LLP parts requires replacement then and such parts impose a high cost to the Engine Maintenance.
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In general terms, the difference between engine and airframe maintenance is that Engine material costs will exceed 80% of the total maintenance while airframe maintenance will equally share labour and material by 50/50%. The Engine performance maintenance costs optimisation is measured by the time it stays on wing as achieved by the

continuous OEM development causing less removals and

subsequently lower maintenance costs.
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1. Component Repairs, Modifications, and

Replacements
This maintenance includes normal scheduled and unscheduled

components repairs to restore its serviceable condition. The parts are often categorised into rotables, repairable and expendables whereby a multiple number of repairs/resets is possible to rotables parts and considered as assets for the airline. The maintenance costs associated with this part depend significantly on whether these can be repaired In house or outsourced. This decision highly depends on two factors, the Turn around time and the Warranty aspect.
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 In other words, if the OEM TAT is reasonable, then it is quite

sensible to despatch such components for repairs outside under warranty without spending much hassle to develop such capability and waste Engineers energy on warranted

components especially during the initial five years from Aircraft induction. There are occasions where rotables or repairable parts are scrapped due to economic conditions BER ,i.e. Where the Repair cost exceeds the 65% threshold of the unit cost
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In-Direct Maintenance Costs

2.2 Indirect Maintenance Costs The Indirect maintenance cost or otherwise known as Overhead

cost is defined as the sum of all labour and material costs for support services which add to the total maintenance of the aircraft. The elements of IMC include the overhead costs of but not limited to, Facilities, Stores, Equipment, administration, Engineering technical services, Materials management and Engg training.
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 The IMC costs vary significantly amongst airlines subject

together with organisational structure and the level of In/outsourcing plus work efficiencies.
Therefore The IMC costs fall within the category of

controllable airline maintenance costs but this factor cannot be controlled nor quantified by Aircraft

manufacturers.

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 The use of automation and sophisticated control system

especially in the tech records, planning and materials management, drastically reduce the labour requirement and size of these support services departments and

subsequently slash the IMC costs.

Therefore, the IMC costs overheads need to be reviewed

frequently to envisage possibility of introducing processes

improvements.
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 The ideal tool for this exercise would be Six Sigma which

looks at the work environment to analyse the adopted processes, then propose solutions for the purpose of working smarter and cut inefficiencies (Turner 2005).

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Operating Cost Breakdown

Total Operating Cost (TOC)

Airplane Related Operating Cost (AROC)

Payload Related Operating Cost

System Related Operating Cost

Cash Airplane Related Operating Cost (CAROC) Fuel Cockpit crew Cabin crew Maintenance Landing Navigation Ground handling
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Ownership Cost Depreciation Financing (airplane and introductory investment) Operating lease cost Hull insurance

Passenger Related 10% Cost

Cargo Related 25% Cost Handling Commissions Reservations and sales Advertising

System Related Cost Airplane general and administrative Passenger general and administrative Cargo general and administrative
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Food In flight services Handling Baggage handling Commissions Reservations and sales Aircraft Maintenance Module Advertising