Challenges and opportunities for MROs

Once these next-generation engines come into widespread use, they will likely bring significant changes to the MRO industry. The conventional wisdom is that electric engines will require much less maintenance but Dietmar Focke, the vice president for engine services at Lufthansa Technik, one of the world’s leading MROs, said that it’s still too early to know how engine electrification will affect the industry.

“The expectation is that all-electric engines for airliners are not the next step, as many key challenges linked to this approach [still] need to be solved,” Focke told the Satair Knowledge Hub.

Focke said it’s more likely that we will first see hybrid propulsion systems that use both electric and conventional energy, which could be good news for the MRO sector.

“Hybrid propulsion systems will be even more complex than today’s systems. Complex systems usually need even more maintenance,” he said.

According to Aviation Week, popular short-haul regional aircraft like the Cessna Caravan, ATR 42/72 and Dash 8 are already being retrofitted with electric or hybrid turboprops. But Focke said that Lufthansa Technik “sees only limited potential for a retrofit boom” since future engine technologies will vary so greatly from today’s engines.

With the next-generation engines still primarily in the development and demonstration stages, Focke said it’s still too early to know which engine technologies will ultimately enter regular operations.

“Whatever the industry will bring up, engine systems will always remain complex systems providing many opportunities for improvements during a full product life cycle, including MRO services,” he said.

The Satair Takeaway

The importance of engines cannot be overstated. Engines can cost as much as $20 million and often account for upwards of 45 percent of all maintenance costs. Just as engines power aircraft through the skies, they will also power the aviation industry’s green transition.

As we explore in this month’s related article, there are a variety of new engine technologies under development. Some will undoubtedly work better than others and the process to create the engine of the future will likely include both high-profile missteps and breakthrough successes. But make no mistake, one or more of the technologies will emerge as the winner and in just a few years planes will fly much differently, and greener, than they do today.

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Engines power aviation’s greener future

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