As an MRO provider or operator, ATA 25 is a juggling act of miscellaneous equipment and furniture flying at you.

A coffee maker is damaged and there’s no aftermarket availability -- nothing, “ready to go.”

Paying list price from OEMs is an option, but still unreliable on manufacturing times.

According to Inside MRO, “capacity is not strictly limited to production. Often, the bottleneck is with engineering, given the high degree of customization involved, especially for first- and business-class seating programs.”

So, what do you do?

Here, we’ve compiled comprehensive data on what the next two years look like for ATA 25, as it pertains to total MRO demand.

Utilizing this as a resource paired effectively with your internal planning tools, you can ensure you’re ready for removals and repairs without overstocking or tying money to your inventory shelves.

So what is ATA 25, Equipment and Furnishings, anyway?

If you know what it is, great! You’ll want to move to the meat in the next section.

If not, this will be a quick explanation just for you.

ATA 25 is comprised of :

• Flight Compartment

• Passenger Compartment

• Buffet/Galley

• Lavatories

• Cargo Compartments

• Emergency

• Accessory Compartments

• Power Drive Units

• Coffee Makers

• Water Heaters

• Boilers

• Electrical Strikes

• Etc.

There you have it -- anything pertaining to equipment and furnishings in all aircraft. Now, let’s get into the numbers.

Total MRO demand for ATA 25 is $3.7 Billion for 2018 and 2019.

Over the next two years, commercial, regional and business aircraft will go through $3,700,958,983 worth of total MRO demand.

MRO demand is classified under:

• Airframe Heavy (Major & Minor)

• Components

• Engine Maintenance (not applicable here)

• Line Maintenance

• Modifications

The total MRO demand forecast accounts for material and labor costs as well.

The bulk of the MRO demand is coming from these aircraft manufacturers:

Boeing will have $2B worth of total MRO demand.

The Boeing 737 has the majority of the total demand at $969M, while the runner-up, the Boeing 777, comes in at $523M.

Airbus will have $1.3B worth of total MRO demand

No surprise here, the A320 will have the majority of the MRO demand with $801M. The runner-up is the A330, with $375M worth.

The four other aircraft manufacturers having a larger sum of MRO demand are…

• Douglas Aircraft: $86.6M

• Bombardier: $86.1M

• Embraer: $65.7M

• ATR: $49.8M

Total material costs exceed $3.4B

For obvious reasons, ATA 25 will spend most of its expense on material over the next two years.

$1.5B will be allocated to minor maintenance with $1.8B allotted to major maintenance; we presume interior upgrades and reconfigurations absorb most of this cost.

How to prepare for your next equipment and furnishings purchase

As Benjamin Franklin said,

“ By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

As you review the trends above, you’ll start looking into your own operation. You’ll begin to ask yourself some critical questions.

You’ll look into your systems, and see average failure rates, removal times and all sorts of other data.

All of this will help you prepare.

What they won’t do is tell you who your best material partner is, or where you’ll purchase when the need arises.

Whether through an outright purchase, an exchange, or a repair, a quality partnership will ease the stress with preparation.

Begin having a conversation with your trusted material adviser, and in the next article, we’ll share with you how to source your ATA 25 needs.

Until then…

Your wings,

Nate Anglin