IATA's Maintenance Cost Technical Group (MCTG) is the only airline volunteer group that gathers and analyzes maintenance cost. MCTG is dedicated to supporting Technical Operations (Maintenance and Engineering) in an environment where costs are ever increasing.
The Warranty Management Essentials (pdf) provides a common understanding on warranties, explains the different contractual bases which could lead to a warranty claim and identifies claimable items related to warranty in aircraft maintenance.
The Adopting Aircraft Electronic Records position paper (pdf) reviews some of the benefits, challenges, use cases and going forward steps as highlighted by recent surveys of the aviation industry. This pulse-check of priorities and lessons shared by aviation stakeholders is a snapshot of themes and elements dominating at this time the digital transformation wave of the aviation operations domain.
IATA’s white paper From Aircraft Health Monitoring to Aircraft Health Management (pdf) provides an overview of the status, perspectives, and challenges which the community of AHM stakeholders is engaged in. The document initial release (in Feb 2022), cumulating several aspects of the AHM path evolution, dominant themes, and main takeaways, was updated (in Nov 2023) to include AHM relevant achievements and changes emerged in the meantime. This white paper is geared to incite involvement of airlines, OEMs, regulators and other relevant actors to join forces in shaping the AHM solutions that civil aviation needs.
The Aircraft Operational Availability paper (pdf) aims at defining the different types of availabilities based on a common approach developed by operators and aircraft manufacturers, the measure being done on the unavailability times. It enables the identification of the Aircraft Unavailability drivers in planned and unplanned maintenance activities to identify all possible causes that will result in an aircraft becoming unavailable.
IATA’s Guidance Material and Best Practices for LLPs Traceability (pdf) covers all topics that play a role in back-to-birth traceability of aircraft life-limited parts (LLPs). It's meant for a technical audience (engineers working at the airline technical/engineering departments as well as technical representatives from leasing companies, parts providers & distributors). It explores key challenges of capturing data/information and gathering support documentation to enable tracking of LLPs, and provides a methodology for accurate traceability of LLPs through their lifecycle. It tackles technical, regulatory, legal and commercial considerations.
The Best Practices Guide for Cabin Interior Retrofits and EIS (pdf) created in collaboration with Engineering and Maintenance specialists aims to ensure that cabin safety operational risk is included within a cabin layout design or change program. It includes program management guidance as well as raises awareness of many of the risks involved in the introduction of a new cabin.
The Maintenance Costs for Aging Aircraft paper (pdf) defines three types of aircraft aging (technical, economic and financial), what factors can influence them, and how they can be measured. Various parameters influence maintenance costs, such as routine and non-routine maintenance, service bulletins (SB) and airworthiness directives (AD). Quantifying the evolution of maintenance costs requires the collection of data throughout the life of the airframe. Data accuracy and consistency are critical. This document proposes an approach to produce curves based on direct maintenance costs by tail number.
The Aircraft Leases (pdf) manual is intended for engineers working at the airline technical/engineering department as well as technical representatives from leasing companies, and offers guidance on lease-related issues during the aircraft lease life-cycle.
The Alternate (PMA) Parts and Approved (non-OEM) Repairs (pdf) manual provides guidance and best practices for airlines to achieve maintenance material cost savings by use of alternate replacement parts (e.g. under Parts Manufacturer Approval – PMA) and approved (non-OEM) repairs, while remaining in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Our goal is to provide the tools, methodology, and definitions to be able to determine how much it costs an airline to maintain its fleet and be able to use the data in cases of new fleet introduction or expansion, “make vs. buy” decisions, year-over-year trends, etc.
We collect maintenance cost data from more than 50 airlines worldwide (representing about a quarter of the world’s fleet and MRO spend) on an annual basis.
Participating airlines receive exclusive IATA Maintenance Cost Reports with benchmark data, key performance indicators and 5-year trend analysis. Check out an excerpt (pdf) of the FY2022 report.
As confidentiality is a major concern, reported data is de-identified and/or aggregated.
Download the latest version of the MCX toolset (zip) to submit your maintenance cost data to the Maintenance Cost data eXchange (MCX) program.
The Maintenance Cost Conference (MCC) is MCTG's annual event held over three days in the Fall, in a different location and with a different theme every year. Experts in aircraft maintenance gather to discuss hot topics and industry trends. The conference typically welcomes an average of 150 delegates.
MCC 2023 was held on October 4-6 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Based on our past experience, the following professionals, amongst many others, attend:
| Manager, Finance | Manager, Technical Contracts |
| Maintenance Cost Analyst | Chief Engineer |
| Manager, Cost Control | Technical Director; Director, Engineering |
| Director, Finance | Head of Maintenance |
| Engineer | VP Maintenance and Engineering |
| Fleet Manager, Engineering | General Manager |
| Manager, Supply Chain | Executive VP Operations |
In July 2021, IATA and Rolls-Royce plc have signed a joint statement that clarifies the engine manufacturer’s ongoing commitment to an open and competitive approach to its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.
The document was finalized after several months of productive and collaborative dialogue on industry best practice for engine MRO services.
Both organizations are aligned on four key principles that underpin the Rolls-Royce approach to the MRO ecosystem and are included in the official statement:
In July 2018, IATA announced that it had entered into an agreement with CFM International (CFM) that will lead to increased competition in the market for maintenance, repair and overhaul services (MRO) on engines manufactured by CFM, a 50/50 partnership between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines.
Under the agreement, CFM has adopted a set of “Conduct Policies” that will enhance the opportunities available to third-party providers of engine parts and MRO services on the CFM56 and the new LEAP series engines. Among the many elements of the agreement, CFM has agreed to:
Related Documents
In an effort to make maintenance agreements more efficient, the Master AMA is available for industry use.
Following the best practices in aircraft operations and industry templates, the Master AMA has been developed to facilitate negotiations for heavy maintenance events, such as C-checks, D-checks, structural checks and other types of airframe maintenance.
The Parties of this Agreement can:
This document is similar to that of AMA, but it applies to the engine.
Learn more about Structural Health Monitoring and find out how Delta TechOps works with industry stakeholders to use technology and innovate in aircraft maintenance.
Our mission is to be the focal point on commercial airline Maintenance Costs, including MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) cost strategies.
The MCTG is run by a Steering Committee (SC) made up of airlines, IATA, and OEMs representatives; up to 12 airlines can have seats on the Steering Committee. The SC meets twice a year, holds quarterly conference calls, and organizes the agenda for the annual Maintenance Cost Conference (MCC).
We offer a unique data collection and benchmark analysis with more than 50 airlines representing 25% of world fleet and maintenance expenses.
We also initiate industry surveys (e.g. aircraft depreciation and maintenance cost capitalization, paperless supply chain, MEL) and projects (e.g. maintenance agreement standardization, aircraft leasing and maintenance reserves) for the benefit of the airline community.
Membership to the MCTG is open to all airlines, including cargo, charter and low cost carriers.
Participants in the IATAs Strategic Partnership Program can also attend the functions of the group upon request and approval from the SC.
