How will coronavirus affect the aircraft maintenance industry?

When we first heard about the coronavirus, we were a bit cynical and thought that everyone should stop overreacting. But now airlines are starting to cancel flights, we think we may have to take it more seriously.

If there is a significant reduction in aircraft flying, it will obviously have an impact on the number of line maintenance tasks over the summer. But this might not be the worst thing that could happen to the industry. At the moment, operators are struggling to get base maintenance slots so it might give them a chance to catch-up on any ADs and SBs, and to put their fleet through C and D Checks rather than keep flying the arse out of all their aircraft.

With the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX, most operators are squeezing every last drop of life out of their B737 NG fleet, and some are still even patching-up their Classics to keep up with demand. A temporary reduction in flight hours might allow them to keep doing this and may mean that the base maintenance season extends through the summer this year.

The big concern is if the flight cancellations increase and extend into the summer season. Airlines operate on pretty slim margins at the best of times and it only takes a small downturn in seat sales for them to hit real problems.

It’s the usual case that ‘only time will tell’. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.

Update 05/05/2020 - It looks like the final nail in the coffin for Flybe was the drop in bookings caused by the coronavirus. What other airlines are going to be pushed to the edge by this?