The commercial aerospace sector has experienced modest but steady growth since mid-2020, as demand for air travel began to recover from the pandemic, while facing some major hurdles—from supply chain shortages to a lack of skilled workers.
A report by Boeing projected that the aviation industry may need an additional 620,000+ maintenance technicians over the next 20 years to meet the accelerating demand for air travel.
OEMs are still struggling to obtain adequate quantities of essential aircraft components from the aviation supply chain, which is stunting the manufacture of new aircraft. Because of this, production lines have slowed, and fleet ages are increasing—leading to increasingly complex MRO processes.
China Airlines has been no stranger to this. The airline operates over 1,400 flights weekly, including 91 pure cargo flights—to 102 cities across Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania.
Listen to Jason Tsai, Vice President, Engineering at China Airlines talks about current challenges in the industry, and the importance of an integrated ERP to enhance reliability and maximize operations.
The China Airlines leadership team knew they needed to implement a digital lifeline to make a real difference to enhance reliability and achieve performance excellence, despite each of these hurdles.
With a proven implementation plan, and the support of IFS as a committed vendor, along with an internal team of champions, China Airlines is achieving and exceeding its business performance objectives. In the age of increased safety regulation, shortages of manpower, and supply chain weaknesses—here’s how China Airlines is achieving its goals, working with IFS.
A greater emphasis on safety than ever before
In an industry as safety-centric as aviation, regulations and compliance are paramount—it’s a culture that must be present at every step of the MRO process. From engineers and technicians to management and support staff, every stakeholder plays an integral role in upholding safety through adherence to regulations.
For China Airlines, the promise of safety is an integral factor in delivering the best possible service to their customers, and that begins well before the aircraft takes to the skies. The IFS aviation maintenance solution is making this a reality for China Airlines.
One single solution was needed—enter IFS
China Airlines previously had a network of legacy mainframe systems that lacked the ability to deliver critical data insights required to evolve the business and introduce new efficiencies. The existing systems were siloed from one another and operated with various different processes.
Because of this, China Airlines had difficulties accessing and sharing timely maintenance information across the entire organization, says Mr. Sun Jia-Min, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Maintenance Organization (EMO), China Airlines.
It was clear that China Airlines needed to implement a comprehensive solution to record maintenance data while improving business efficiency and regulatory compliance.
A decade of collaboration
China Airlines conducted extensive market research to assess solutions and found that IFS was the premier option. China Airlines has been working with IFS for over a decade, evolving their solution to connect their systems and data into one integrated solution to maximize operations, and deliver cost savings to their customers at the Moment of Service™.
Mr. Sun says, “We chose IFS as our system of record for maintaining and engineering our fleet of Boeing and Airbus airplanes, as well as aircraft from our growing third-party maintenance services.”
“After a decade of using IFS, our objectives for this system are being met. IFS has allowed us to improve business efficiency in multiple areas.”
Using the IFS aviation maintenance solution, China Airlines has been able to provide immediate traceability for tasks, tools and parts, automatic scheduling of tasks, clear and comprehensive planning, and scope and execution support throughout the maintenance cycle.
Optimization and efficiency key gains
Optimizing the way line and A checks are performed, coupled with the significant reduction in layover times, mean that aircraft are spending more time in revenue-generation mode, and less time in the hangar.
“Collectively, the positive results we have experienced to date cannot be undersold,” says Mr. Sun, “Factoring in the cost reductions achieved to date, we are positioning ourselves for stronger financial performance.”
Within two years of site implementation, China Airlines saw its EMO operating costs reduce by $3.5 million—this is a significant achievement during a time of market competition forcing operators to deliver greater services with fewer resources.
The airline firmly believes that optimizing its EMO will go a long way to maintaining a positive customer experience and driving greater brand loyalty. Most importantly, according to Mr. Sun, “It supports our unending commitment to delivering the safest and most reliable passenger and cargo service in the industry.”
The proof is in the numbers
In the last 10 years, IFS and China Airlines have already achieved many milestones:
- 65% reduction of multi crew job card waiting time in heavy maintenance
- 10% increase in line management process efficiencies
- 10% increase in heavy maintenance manpower efficiencies
- 3% increase in A Checks delivery efficiencies
- Average addition of 30 revenue days per year through a reduction in scheduled aircraft maintenance
- Average addition of 25 revenue days per year through a reduction in unscheduled aircraft maintenance
- Average addition of 14 revenue days per year through a reduction in heavy maintenance without an increase in labor costs
A decade of propelling success
Despite ongoing maintenance technician shortages, and global aviation supply chain pressures, China Airlines’ use of the IFS solution for aviation maintenance ensures it is still completing seamless maintenance, repair, and overhaul on their fleet—ensuring the highest levels of safety, and customer satisfaction.
SOURCE: Mather R. (2024, AUG14). A Decade of aviation success: How China Airlines overcomes industry headwinds with IFS. IFS Blog. https://blog.ifs.com/2024/08/a-decade-of-aviation-success-how-china-airlines-overcomes-industry-headwinds-with-ifs/
