Dealing with maintenance delays impacting airline partners. Are you equipped to navigate these conflicts?

Good Mx planning is essential before the aircraft is placed into the MRO. Advance purchase of the materials benefits turntime. Once aircraft arrives there needs to be a strategy to execute, communication, coordination and collaboration is needed by the team. Get components that require shop work off aircraft and into shops, inspect and determine what needs repairing before starting repairs and ensure there is progressive inspection control. Tasks need to be closed and quality assurance needs to be building the return to service documents as the job progresses to avoid a paperwork delay of retuning the aircraft to service.

Having a system to address maintenance delays is critical, but what kind of a "Maintenance Delay" are discussing? Is it a discrepancy that has been verified or has it not been inspected or evaluated? What is the status of the aircraft? Is it a widebody with 250 people aboard going to Europe, or is it a Terminating RON? What resources are available? If we have "People, Parts and Plan" including the technical data, we should be able to repair and release within a known timeframe. If there repair is too lengthy, have we exhausted all other avenues: Deferral per MEL/CDL/NEF? Is there a published Temporary Repair document available? Can we leverage Engineering or the Manufacturer? Sometimes it is faster to deplane and switch equipment.

Communication is critical. Having current and accurate information can allow the rest of the system or operation (Part 91/121/135) to work around the delayed equipment. Having the ability share images and video with sound across departments is a force multiplier.

Our first mission is to provide safe and reliable aircraft to our operations. Our close second is to get our customers to where they paid us to go as quickly and efficiently as possible. It can be a difficult judgment call of when to swap deplane the cabin or swap equipment, but we have to put customer safety and service ahead of professional pride.

As an industry, we are weathering a sea change of experience in our workforce. Decades of priceless talent retires every day. Training certainly does help, but can't replace experience and "muscle memory". Give your team as much support and all the resources you can muster, then let them do their work.

"Matt's Mantra: #1: Keep everyone safe. We want everyone to go home in the condition they arrived in. #2: Don't bend any metal. Avoid damaging aircraft, support equipment and tooling. It adds to the delay in time and dollars. #3: Stay compliant! With all company policy, technical data and the FARs. Don't ever endanger your License or the Carrier's Certificate.