by Elsie Clark | Dec 1, 2025 | Innovation, MRO IT
Airbus has reported that the majority of A320 and A320neo aircraft have returned to operation after being grounded suddenly on 28 November.
A safety alert was issued after a JetBlue A320 experienced an uncontrolled descent lasting for several seconds during a flight from Newark to Cancun on 30 October. Airbus’s subsequent investigation found that intense solar radiation was corrupting critical flight control data, forcing thousands of A320s across the world to be recalled for updates.
The manufacturer said on 1 December that fewer than 100 of the 6,000-strong fleet were still undergoing upgrades. For most aircraft, a simple software update was all that was required, but some older models require a more time-consuming hardware installation.
Around 60% of the world’s 9,900 active A320s and sister models were affected by the grounding. 2025 is a peak year in the solar weather cycle, which caused the unusually intense solar radiation that affected JetBlue’s flight.
In the wake of the disruption, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury issued an apology on LinkedIn, stating:
I want to sincerely apologise to our airline customers and passengers who are impacted now. But we consider that nothing is more important than safety when people fly on one of our Airbus Aircraft – like millions do every day.
Our teams are working around the clock to support our operators and ensure these updates are deployed as swiftly as possible to get planes back in the sky and resume normal operations, with the safety assurance you expect from Airbus.
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026, where Airbus Chief Technology Officer Dr Sabine Klauke will be speaking.
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by Elsie Clark | Nov 11, 2025 | Innovation, MRO IT
British Airways (BA) have chosen MRO-PRO to digitise and manage the airline’s entire line maintenance network.
The partnership represents a significant advance in BA’s modernisation strategy. Thanks to MRO-PRO’s cloud-based software, the carrier can now tap real-time visibility and forecasting maintenance management. Integrating inbound flight data with engineer availability, the platform also helps optimise staff allocation to address MRO issues more efficiently.
MRO-PRO will be rolled out across BA’s international hubs, including London Gatwick, Manchester, New York, Delhi, and Sydney. Gavin Shearer, Head of Operations – Line Maintenance at British Airways, explained the benefits the airline has already realised:
The system has enabled simplified aircraft workflows with enhanced performance visibility for managers, through improved data insights, and delivered smarter work allocation using flight radar feeds to track any aircraft delays and reprioritise tasks.
He also noted that all of BA’s engineers were now using the system after a full onboarding and training process.
Scott Wells, founder and managing director of MRO-PRO, said that his company was advancing ‘[a] new standard in digital MRO management’. He commented:
MRO-PRO is proud to announce that British Airways, one of the world’s most recognised and prestigious airlines, has chosen our platform to manage the MRO requirements for all its customer line maintenance network. This new partnership represents a significant milestone for MRO-PRO in our growth ambition to deliver digital and AI-enhanced solutions to leading airlines and maintenance providers across the world.
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by Elsie Clark | Oct 29, 2025 | Innovation, MRO IT
The aviation industry continues to struggle against high labour costs and skilled workforce shortages. And as the aircraft order backlog only goes up, effective maintenance and repair is more crucial than ever in keeping older aircraft in service for longer.
Robotics could play a crucial role in filling these gaps, able to service aircraft to a high standard in collaboration with human overseers. At Aerospace Tech Week 2025, we sat down with Okan Ozkan, R&D and Business Development Director for myTECHNIC, to discuss developments in the industry so far, and where robots could be deployed next.
The challenge facing maintenance workers is considerable. The industry is expected to add 45,900 new aircraft by 2043, but ongoing supply chain challenges have frustrated delivery. Moreover, the influx of new aircraft and keeping old aircraft in service places increasing strain on technicians. Scaling recruitment of these key personnel is a top priority, but with every staff member requiring years of training, other complementary solutions are needed.
Ozkan believes robotics are key to supporting and even improving human output, offering better reliability and accuracy. However, several key adoption challenges remain.
The main difficulty is regulation. If you’re using any robot in the hangar space, you have to ensure that it’s not damaging the aircraft. Safety comes first.
As well as securing regulatory approval, robot capabilities for maintenance remain in the early stages of development. Ozkan explains how deploying robots for autonomous aircraft repair and overhaul remains a long-term goal as the industry explores the full potential of robotic arming technology. In the future, smart robots could service and repair aircraft completely independently.
I like Star Wars, and I remember seeing the robotic technologies on screen for the spacecrafts there. And now I am seeing that time coming in real life because of how robotic technology is growing.
🎥 Watch the interview to hear Okan Ozkan’s full insight on how robotics is developing in aviation MRO.
Questions asked include:
- How are you seeing robotic technology impact aircraft maintenance activity?
- How do you see innovation in robotics having an impact on sustainability?
- How do events like Aerospace Tech Week help drive the industry forward?
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026 to discuss the cutting-edge technologies transforming MRO, including AI and robotics.
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by Elsie Clark | Oct 22, 2025 | AI & ML, Innovation, MRO IT
Back in April, our Aerospace Tech Review Awards 2025 honoured a range of cutting-edge startups, speakers, and collaborations across the aerospace industry. Most Disruptive Startup went to AIXI, an innovative data and analytics company that is giving aviation MRO data a much-need upgrade.
To learn more, we sat down on video call with AIXI’s CEO, Cameron Byrd. With aviation continuing to depend on legacy systems, AIXI’s data-cleaning AI represents a significant advancement. Information that might previously have been buried in spreadsheets or hidden behind reference numbers can be brought to the fore through AIXI’s industry-specific large-language model (ILM).
It’s impossible to extract reliable information from maintenance data without cleaning it first. That’s where everyone’s failing, and where AIXI focuses.
Byrd believes airlines’ extensive maintenance data backlogs airlines represent an untapped ‘gold mine’ that could be leveraged far more effectively. AIXI’s ILM extracts, cleans, and standardises this data, while additional tools can identify repeat defects by aircraft or by fleet. The startup’s ultimate goal is to provide the aviation industry with strong data foundations, which they can build upon for true prescriptive and predictive maintenance.
With an accuracy rate of over 95%, the AIXI model can review 3,000 records a day and save 15,000 hours of labour. Real-world use cases have demonstrated these high-performance capabilities: AIXI have been working with Southwest Airlines since 2022, and upon installation immediately freed up five full-time employees.
Southwest also tried to have humans verify the results of the autocoder. And what happened was the autocoder would beat the humans.
AIXI is currently tailored to manage Boeing 737s, but in the future Byrd hopes to refine the ILM so it can be applied to more aircraft records. He also hopes to build an industry-specific chatbot tool, where engineers can input questions on maintenance procedures or the number of delays due to certain causes, and receive accurate answers based on the airline’s data.
When it comes to MRO, AI is a transformative tool that will become essential to the running of the aviation industry. Byrd concludes:
AI is the way to unlock the power of data, because if you know the history of your fleet, you can predict the future of your fleet.
🎥 Watch the full interview to get the full lowdown on AIXI’s game-changing technology, and why they won Most Disruptive Startup at the ATR Awards 2025.
Questions asked include:
- Aviation is known for being dependent on legacy tools and methods. What systems have traditionally been used to aggregate MRO data? What are the challenges that come with using these?
- How is AIXI disrupting this field? Tell me more about your AI-powered solutions and how they are a game-changer for MRO.
- What are your plans for the future? How would you like to grow your business/develop the product?
- How do you see use of AI changing aerospace and aviation over the next decade?
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026, where our Startup World Cup will gather the most innovative new businesses from across the industry.
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by Elsie Clark | Oct 15, 2025 | MRO IT
A new report from IATA and Oliver Wyman, Reviving the Commercial Aircraft Supply Chain, forecasts that supply chain challenges could cost airlines more than US$11 billion in 2025.
This is largely due to the slow pace of aircraft production, which has been exacerbated by ever-increasing demand for air travel. In 2024, passenger demand rose by 10.4%, exceeding the capacity expansion of 8.7%, while the worldwide commercial backlog of aircraft reached historic high of 17,000.
Geopolitical instability, material shortages, and labour availability have compounded these supply chain challenges, forcing airlines to keep older aircraft in service for longer. This results in higher fuel costs, maintenance costs, engine leasing costs, and surplus inventory holding costs. According to IATA, these bottlenecks combined will cost airlines US$11 billion in 2025.
The report offers several suggestions for the aerospace industry to mitigate these problems. Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, commented:
Airlines depend on a reliable supply chain to operate and grow their fleets efficiently. Now we have unprecedented waits for aircraft, engines and parts and unpredictable delivery schedules. […]
There is no simple solution to resolving this problem, but there are several actions that could provide some relief. To start, opening the aftermarket would help by giving airlines greater choice and access to parts and services. In parallel, greater transparency on the state of the supply chain would give airlines the data they need to plan around blockages while helping OEMs to ease underlying bottlenecks.
Additionally, the report recommends that the industry improve its use of data, including accelerating predictive maintenance and data sharing to reduce downtime and optimise existing inventory.
Matthew Poitras, Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Transportation and Advanced Industrials practice, added:
Today’s aircraft fleet is larger, more advanced, and more fuel efficient than ever before. However, supply chain challenges are impacting airlines and OEMs alike. We see an opportunity to catalyse an improvement in supply chain performance that will benefit everyone, but this will require collective steps to reshape the structure of the aerospace industry and work together on transparency and talent.
Join us at Aerospace Tech Week 2026, where our dedicated supply chain track will discuss how the industry can build resilience and mitigate disruption.
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by Elsie Clark | Oct 1, 2025 | Innovation, MRO IT
Predictive maintenance using artificial intelligence (AI) and big data is a hot topic in aerospace, as airlines, airports, and engineers all strive to reduce downtime and optimise infrastructure efficiency.
For many, however, implementing predictive maintenance technology remains stuck in the development stages. In an exclusive interview, Kaire Kalve, Head of Supply Chain at Magnetic Group, told Aerospace Tech Review what needs to change for successful predictive MRO adoption.
Different parties and operators all have their own data, so the key challenge here is actually trust.
Kalve discusses why mutual incentives are critical to breaking down barriers across the industry and eliminating data silos. If this isn’t done, predictive maintenance is slow to implement and less effective: the more data you can feed a model, the more accurate it will be.
The key here is operators. They should take the initiative as they have the most valuable data.
Industrywide collaboration will be essential to realising the benefits of predictive maintenance, and events such as Aerospace Tech Week play an important role in developing new partnerships.
The future of maintenance is truly collaborative and based on transparent agreements for data sharing.
🎥Watch the video below to hear Kaire’s full insights on collaboration in predictive maintenance.
Questions asked include:
- Predictive maintenance is widely discussed, but we’re yet to see its widespread implementation. What’s holding the industry back?
- Predictive maintenance relies heavily on data. Who in the industry has the most important data, so to speak?
- Why are events such as Aerospace Tech Week so important?
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