The overarching theme is accelerating digitalisation. During Covid, many projects were initiated to improve efficiency, and this development is still ongoing. Going paperless in maintenance management is still a major theme, with many companies striving to abandon pen and paper for more reliable and efficient modern solutions.
Digitalisation also plays a big role in improving cost-efficiency and competitiveness. We will see increasing interest in data exchange between airlines, OEMs, and MROs.
Read the Top 5 innovations and trends in aviation in 2024 here.
Workforce availability will continue to be a significant factor globally. Aviation manufacturing, maintenance, and repair require skill and experience, and there just aren’t enough experts to meet the demand. This means that airlines, MROs and OEMs will be competing for the same talent. Those who provide the best tools, processes, and working conditions will have a competitive advantage when maintenance experts choose which job offer to take.
The aviation industry would do well to examine why young people are not interested in careers in the aviation sector. Perhaps the industry is still perceived as somewhat old-fashioned, although digitalisation and the automation of manual work has brought in more younger generation mechanics and technicians.
The lack of skilled workforce, combined with certain quality issues, lead to challenges in delivery schedules. This applies to aircraft as well as spare parts and maintenance. Some engine types have also experienced technical problems, leading to dozens of planes staying grounded until the end of 2025. This of course is very expensive, straining the economic situation of affected airlines significantly.
Today’s engines are incredibly complex devices that combine old technology with new digital components; they are essentially flying computers. As new solutions are developed and commercialised, no amount of testing can cover every single possibility and scenario, so surprises inevitably occur. Fortunately we now have data coming in about the way engines are used, which helps us understand the challenges better than before.
The MRO business is looking to AI, among other things, to help solve capacity challenges. Better planning of workforce usage could alleviate the staffing problem. Productivity can be as low as around 50% with the existing workforce, but this could be improved with flexible, AI-driven planning and improved processes.
In the regulatory environment, eyes are on the upcoming EASA cybersecurity requirements for which companies need to prepare. Cybersecurity is of course already high on the agenda of all aviation industry companies. With the increase of AI based solutions in aviation, examining the impacts of the EU’s AI Act is also a topic that requires attention.
For QOCO, 2025 looks very promising. Our growth is accelerating as MROTools.io and Assignment.io continue to gain new users. Geographically, we expect to make headway in the US market, where we already have some agreements in the works. We will focus on developing and improving our existing products and integrating more AI functionalities into them to help customers operate as effectively and productively as possible.