ABSTRACT
Airframe suppliers design, produce, sell and support aircraft. As such they are well known by the public as everybody has heard from companies like Boeing and Airbus, the world’s two largest suppliers of commercial aircraft. Designing aircraft, and setting up the manufacturing layout to build aircraft at a large scale requires huge investments, to be earned back over a long period. Aircraft are designed around an engine, and this notion places the engine suppliers in a vital leading position in the development of aircraft. An aircraft only holds its airworthiness as long as the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) on that aircraft is performed as per the manuals that are issued by the manufacturer. Legacy airlines used to deploy large MRO departments with all required capabilities in-house. As of the 1980s, airlines – and certainly the new entrants – have decided to outsource part or even all of the MRO requirements of their fleets.
