What is MRO in aviation?

Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) in aviation is the repair, service, or inspection of an aircraft or aircraft component. It is essentially all of the maintenance activities that take place to ensure safety and airworthiness of all aircrafts by international standards.

The MRO Forecast: Clear Skies Ahead

As the end-of-year reports roll in, we can definitely say the aviation industry can expect clear and sunny skies moving forward. IATA reports annual passenger numbers are to surpass 4.3 billion by the end of 2018 and by next year the average world citizen is likely to travel once every 21 months.

That's a lot of people claiming air miles this year. Whether it be for work or leisure more people are finding themselves scuffling through crowded terminals and maxed out cabin isles.

"The global commercial aircraft market, valued at just over US$191 billion in 2018, is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 2.9% to be valued at around US$255 billion by 2028. The cumulative market for global expenditure on commercial aircraft is valued at US$2.3 trillion over the forecast period." — The Global Commercial Aircraft Market 2018-2028

As value goes up in the aviation market, supporting operations such as the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) market will stand to gain more business, while also facing greater challenges to meet relentless demands. The upsurge in travel requires more aircraft usage and that, in turn, ignites the overwhelming demand for industry services.

Key factors such as a rising demand for air travel, increase in digitalization, and upgradation of the legacy Management Information System (MIS) to digital MRO software all influence growth within the MRO software market.

Let's take a look at the climate of MRO in aviation today, and how key-market technologies are driving growth in the aviation maintenance software market.

Members can follow each other, write and reply to comments and receive blog notifications. Each member gets their own personal profile page that they can customize.

Here’s how to do it: Understand Where MRO's Been, to Conquer Where It's Going

First, let's journey back to when MRO came about.

Aircraft maintenance is imperative to keeping up product availability, reliability, and quality. Airline operators depend on MRO to ensure safety and compliance with Airworthiness Directives.

The MRO market became a viable business in aviation because Airframe Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) would mainly focus on development and production, and not the aftermarket. This left a lot of airlines to partially or fully outsource MRO services from repair shops and system suppliers.

With the aviation industry's booming growth MRO operators and airlines require software that will optimize productivity and keep operations up with demand. MRO software manages the maintenance process and offers solutions to improve efficiency and enhance the end-user experience.

Stakeholders are finally realizing the integral role MRO plays in driving productivity and are investing big time.

"The MRO software market in aviation is estimated at USD 4.08 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 4.93 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 3.85% from 2017 to 2022." — MarketsandMarkets

Digitalization of MRO activities, Upgradation of the legacy MIS to digital MRO, and the adoption of MRO systems are all contributing to the growth in MRO Software to achieve maximum optimization.

New technology is also being leveraged to improve the air travel experience