In a world where environmental conservation has become the common goal, the aviation industry has not been left behind. If anything, it has doubled down on its efforts to reduce energy wastage, not only in its flights but also in its aircraft maintenance. We walk you through the top three hidden energy costs of aircraft maintenance and how the aviation industry is cutting them with smart approaches.
What Costs Arise in Aircraft Maintenance?
You might think that the top energy cost in aircraft maintenance is the electricity bill. And while this bill does account for most of the costs, there are many other resources that contribute to the final bill. Key among these are wastes in labour, fuel, and material. Let’s break this down:
- The Effect of Downtime
For each hour that an aircraft sits on the ground during unplanned maintenance, airlines not only lose an hour of revenue but also incur an hour of a wasted capital asset. Usually, airlines must charter another plane to avoid these losses, cancel the flights, or rush the maintenance work. None of these solutions is optimal, and they result in financial hits to the airlines. For example, a flight cancellation results in both economic and reputational losses, while chartering a plane incurs additional energy usage to transport passengers and cargo to the alternative flight, as well as reduced profit margins.
- The Rushed Maintenance Cost
As we stated in the downtime effect, airlines sometimes deal with grounded planes by rushing the maintenance work. However, while this approach works in the short term by getting the plane airborne, it also paves the way for human errors and quality issues.
As a result, the airlines have no option but to redo the work at a later time, which means they must invest more money in labour and replace the previous parts with higher-quality components. Therefore, the airlines perform the same work twice. Because they did not repair the original engine parts properly, they now have to undergo a complete overhaul, resulting in a waste of raw materials.
- The Sped-Up Supply Chain
What happens when an airline must replace an engine part quickly? Well, they rely on rush shipping and last-minute labour, both of which come at a high cost. As you would imagine, such emergency logistics are much more carbon-intensive and less efficient compared to planned maintenance.
Can Smart Tools Address These Costs?
The easiest way to prevent the hidden costs in aircraft maintenance is to rely on measures that improve the efficiency, safety, and precision of these processes. But how?
- Engine Stands
Smarter stands, such as those with adaptive or magnetic features, can speed up maintenance procedures by offering a quick and secure way to handle aircraft engines, even when working under a tight deadline. These stands, available on sites like magneticenginestands.co, enable technicians to save time on rigging and alignment, allowing them to save several hours.
Furthermore, by providing a stable environment that reduces the risk of human error, these stands eliminate the need for rework, which further reduces the costs that would have otherwise been incurred for securing resources for additional repair work on the engines.
- Digital Tools
Planned maintenance costs less than emergency repairs. That is why airlines are now integrating sensors into their engines, as these systems can predict system failures weeks in advance. This way, the airlines can secure the resources required to repair the faulty parts on time, thus spending less on logistics.
