If you’re a Dash 8 operator, aircraft MRO, or lessor, this post is for you.
This is your go-to resource for the current major Dash 8 components we have available now or in the near term.
Bookmark this page as it’ll be updated often.
Do you have surplus aircraft part inventory?
This unnecessary buildup occurs when you order inventory in preparation for near term consumption.
When that consumption never occurs. Voila! Surplus inventory builds up.
Here’s the impact that this causes to your operation.
It’s not the price you pay, how business savvy you are, or how excellent your negotiation skills are. This is the MOST IMPORTANT skill you need when purchasing aircraft parts.
Your surplus aircraft material was sitting. Rotting. Wasting away on your shelves.
Slowly eating away at your operational results. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Cash was being sucked down the surplus drain. And the only thing you could do was…
Price. How important is it to you? How often do you try and get the lowest price? I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “It’s incredibly important.” and “Every chance I get.” And that’s fair. It’s also common to ask how much something costs. Or to reduce the cost of something. We often use price and cost interchangeably. That’s a mistake.
When you hear the 3 letters, A-O-G, it makes you cringe.
Your heart rate starts to race, your palms begin to sweat and you frantically think I-have-to-fix-this-now.
AOG are stressful. But if you're prepared before the AOG, it’ll make your aviation life much easier.
You're no stranger to an AOG. You despise them. They make you sweat. They make you mad. They may even make you cry. No matter how much work engineers and technicians put on the aircraft, or how much time you spend planning, AOGs still occur. There’s no luck involved. They’ll happen and we’ll need to fix it. I recently saw an AOG for a slow moving, non-stocked expendable. Anything is possible. It’s madness I tell you!
You’re always stuck firefighting AOGs. It’s routine for you. A normal way of your aviation life. Yet, every time it wastes time and money. It’s a burden. It’s stressful. It’s wasteful.
100% of the airlines and MROs we work with struggle with the same problem. Some more than others.
When AOGs happen, you’re in trouble. You do everything you can to resolve the issue. It drains your time, you spend extra money and you have better things to do.
What if you could reduce your AOGs?
Follow me through this narrative….
It’s Monday, an airline (you) asks Skylink for 5 urgent aircraft components. 3 days later we check in with you to make sure everything is going good since you haven’t asked us to ship. On the 7 day you call us saying you're now AOG. In 2 days, your aircraft will be grounded, so you need these items rushed.
You go from an urgent request to an AOG request.
You go from nominal processing and shipping costs to doubling your expenses. We’ve seen expenses go as high as 13x the original direct cost due to AOG shipping costs and fees.
Crazy!
You had everything planned with your original request. You asked for a quote and you got the quote. The items were ready, waiting for you to make a decision. But you decided to wait.
It’s natural. You want to wait as the urgent request may resolve itself. Yet decisions like this cost the industry millions of dollars a year.
The most urgent items will not become less urgent over time. They progress into an AOG. Causing you time and money.
Rarely you’ll solve the urgent request by yourself with internal means.
Statistically, you’re taking a gamble. A big gamble.
Every day we think about ways to help you resolve AOGs. We’re pretty darn good at it too. But that’s not enough.
Being fast to get you what you want, when you want it still costs you more time and money then you deserve.
Here’s something we’re playing with…
You need to purchase the urgent items when you need them. Don’t second guess yourself. Worst case scenario you resolve the issue and have an extra order on your hands. The best case scenario, you have support components to resolve an urgent situation before it costs you AOG fees.
You can calculate your return on investment by making a smart, quick and decisive decision. But, this still adds a small burden to you.
What if you could then return these items if you figure things out? These urgent items will act as an insurance policy to avoid an AOG and you have the peace of mind for a simple return.
Would a peace of mind guarantee make your life easier? Would it help you purchase urgent items and resolve a request before it becomes AOG with the peace of mind of being able to return them with little hassle?
We would love to hear your thoughts on how this idea would help your operation.
Email your dedicated Account Manager or our VP Nate Anglin (nate@skylinkintl.com) and discuss the benefits this would create for you and how we can implement it to best serve you.
You’ve heard it from hundreds of companies, “we have a 24/7/365 AOG service.”
It’s like throwing rocks into an ocean. Some rocks sink faster than others, and the same is true with the hundreds of 24/7 AOG service claims.
Some use the term for marketing purposes, while others have an exclusive AOG service for stock items (that’s the goal right?).
95% of all AOG services are reactive solutions. A true airline AOG service isn’t just about getting you a single aircraft component in the shortest amount of time. It’s about much more than that. A sound AOG service focuses it's attention on preventative strategies. The true magic happens when partners (airline + component distributor) sit down and discuss proactive solutions.
Aircraft maintenance will always have it’s bouts of reactive issues, but it’s beating these issues down on the front end…before they become an AOG problem.
It’s about stopping the AOGs before they ever become an actual AOG.
Some airlines have reoccurring AOGs for the same product line, which is where safety stock plays an integral role. Others experience component failures along a statistical spread based on mean times between failures (MTBF) and mean time between removals (MTBR).
Some airlines experience AOGs for just rotables, while others experience AOGs for rotables, consumables, and expendables.
So what does this mean for you?
You’ve worked on your MEL no-go list, but every airline operation is unique. From a fleet flying around the sandy Saharan desert, to fleets flying through the blistering cold of the Alaskan frontier, every operation is different.
In order to combat your onslaught of AOGs without having to invest millions in safety stock and life limited consumables, first create your high usage AOG list.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Now that you’ve created a list of no-go and high usage items, you move on to the next step…
Minimizing your AOG is having the right part, at the right time, in the right place…without drastically increasing you’re operating expenditure. Having inventory suck away your available cash (more on that below) is a disaster waiting to happen.
The next step is to logically think of your logistical and procurement plan. Buying material on an AOG basis is making you reactive which is unproductive. You have to plan solutions on the front end.
Here are some ideas that can be applied to the 3 lists you created in the previous section:
As you can see, the strategies are limitless and they surround your need to reduce AOGs and inventory expenditure. Your component partner is an expert (Skylink being one these of course) who will help you create these strategies.
Forget the statistics of spending $1.5M per aircraft in inventory. You make money in the air. Inventory is on the ground. Your goal is to be efficient not only with your fleet but also with your cash.
There are component distributors who specialize in inventory, that’s what they do. For you not to take advantage of this puts you at a financial disadvantage. Take JetBlue for example. They outsource everything, and are a profitable airline because of it. They’ve reduced their overhead and focused on core, money-making activities.
The same is true for you.
Come up with your 3 lists and work with your trusted partner to devise a strategy where they support your every rotable, expendable and consumable need.
It can be much easier than having to constantly react to AOGs. Be proactive and beat your AOGs on the front end.
P.S. We’ve come up with airline support strategies for all of our airline clients. Are you having an increase in AOGs? Do you want to be more proactive in your component support? Do you want to spend less money on inventory and AOG processing? Do you want more cash to support your operation? If yes, fill out the below form and let’s get started TODAY.
AOGs (Aircraft On Ground) are no fun?
It’s the 3 letters that keep you up at night. It’s the 3 letters that make your hands sweat and your heart race. It’s the 3 letters you hope to never hear again.
AOGs are apart of our commercial aviation world. There’s no hiding from them.
You can accept them, deal with them, and minimize them, but you’ll never eliminate them.
No matter if it's an AOG now, or an AOG 7 days from now, time is money.
When an AOG occurs, you spend thousands of dollars in lost revenue and spend hefty fees to resolve the nagging problem. You become vulnerable. Many suppliers smell the AOG desperation from a mile away. And don’t forget about your freight forwarder. They’ll happily accept your 1 day transport request at a rate 200%+ more than routine freight.
This is why you get so stressed.
There’s a lot of money at stake and for you to get it right is imperative. The cold hard truth is things don’t always go according to plan.
You resolve the problem but then your supplier cancels or your order get’s stuck in customs. Whatever it is there’s hundreds of potential variables that could delay you getting what you need.
I have seen so many mistakes made in a stressful state.
Just this week we shipped 5 parts for an AOG order to one of our partners, but under his stressful state he AOG shipped the wrong order and forgot to process the right AOG order. A silly mistake with incredible consequences.
He was so stressed that he completely overlooked what was necessary for him to do. This is why work related stress training is so incredibly important. It’s imperative you manage your stress before you manage your AOG.
If you read this blog often you’ll know I talk about managing stress a lot. Stress in aviation is costly. Being able to think clearly and make quick decisions is paramount to you and your fleets success.
Here are a few quick tips to control your stress on the spot, anywhere:
Once you get your heart rate back into a normal state (your heart rate increases the more stressed you are) the better you’ll be able to handle the AOG situation that’s in front of you. You’ll make better decisions, you’ll rely on trusted partners, and you’ll avoid falling for tricks and false promises.
You’ve heard it all. Quite possibly some of it came from us or here on this blog. Stock more, stock less, tap into a pooling agreement, lease your inventory, pool your safety stock, relay on a Just In Time strategy, whatever it is…you’ll continue to have AOGs.
The best tip to resolve this is simple but often times so overlooked. Work with a partner that creates a “wow” experience for you…99% of the time. I know this sounds way to easy but it makes a huge difference. When you feel like your supplier is a direct subset of your operation, you know the relationship is beneficial.
They help you resolve the problem night or day. They’ll solve it directly or find some way to come up with a solution, either way you benefit from a “wow” relationship and trusted support. You don’t have to do it all on your own.
All too often I see airlines fall victim to false promises and when they realize it, it’s too late. They've wasted time and money.
Lean on someone you trust and that creates a “wow” experience for you. Trust me on this, it makes all the difference in the world. Plus, it's more fun working with someone like this anyway.
P.S. We deal with AOGs every day. Send me an email here and tell me what your AOG problems are. We’ll then begin to help you reduce your stress, resolve your AOGs, and create the “wow” experience you deserve.
