Cutting Aircraft Turnaround Time and Strengthening Working Capital Through Maintenance Operations Transformation for a Leading MRO Provider

The client is a leading provider of aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services, operating multiple hangars that support narrow-body and wide-body fleets for its parent airline group, as well as third-party commercial and cargo carriers across the Asia-Pacific region. Its operations span base and line maintenance, engine and component overhaul, and spare parts logistics, supporting several hundred aircraft maintenance checks annually across a multi-hangar network.

• Extended aircraft turnaround times in base maintenance checks, driven by unplanned scope escalation and sequential rather than parallel work-package execution
• Frequent spare parts stockouts and slow procurement cycles that stalled maintenance in progress and extended aircraft-on-ground (AOG) exposure
• High working capital tied up in slow-moving and duplicate inventory across hangars and warehouses, with limited visibility into stock health
• Fragmented coordination between planning, engineering, and supply chain functions, with no shared real-time view of maintenance or parts status
• Reactive procurement posture driving emergency and expedited parts sourcing at a significant cost premium

• A grounded narrow-body aircraft costs an airline an estimated $10,000–$30,000 per hour in lost revenue and disruption, rising to $80,000–$150,000+ per hour for a wide-body in active rotation (approx., IATA 2025 benchmark), making turnaround time one of the highest-leverage levers in MRO economics
• Unplanned part removals and replacements can cost 30–50% more than planned maintenance, due to the emergency logistics and expedited sourcing they require (approx., industry benchmark)
• For an MRO provider serving both group and third-party carriers, turnaround performance is a direct driver of commercial competitiveness and customer retention, not simply an internal efficiency metric
• Left unaddressed, working capital keeps building in unproductive inventory, and AOG exposure and unplanned costs continue to erode margin and crowd out capacity for growth

• Turnaround-Time Diagnostic & Baseline Report
• Parallel Work-Package Planning Methodology
• Demand-Driven Spare Parts Inventory Model
• Rotable Pooling & Consignment Framework
• Cross-Functional Planning-Engineering-Supply Chain Operating Model
• Maintenance & Inventory KPI Dashboard
• Phased Implementation Roadmap with Quick-Win Priorities

15–20%

Reduction in average base-maintenance turnaround time (approx.)

25–30%

Reduction in parts-driven maintenance stoppages (approx.)

10–15%

Reduction in inventory working capital tied up in spare parts (approx.)

3

Hangars integrated under the shared planning-execution model

40+

Maintenance planning processes standardised (approx.)

90%+

On-time work-package completion post-implementation (approx.)

Engineering, planning, and supply chain now share one demand-driven planning discipline anchored to a common view of maintenance and parts status, extending well past a one-time gain in turnaround speed. Standardised work-package methodology, a leaner inventory base, and a live performance dashboard sustain the Provider's turnaround gains and support extending the model across additional hangars and customer programmes.