IATA Warns of Maintenance Crisis for New-Generation Aircraft Engines

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The global aviation industry is facing a serious crisis in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of new-generation powerplants designed for narrowbody aircraft.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in collaboration with the consulting firm Emerton, has published an analytical report highlighting critical vulnerabilities in the servicing segment for LEAP engines from CFM International and Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines from Pratt & Whitney. Current supply chain disruptions and a shortage of repair capacity are already leading to massive financial and operational costs for air carriers worldwide.

According to the study's results, the key destabilizing factors include insufficient operational durability of the latest motors, an acute shortage of spare parts, a lack of a spare engine pool, and the monopolization of the aftermarket service sector. Combined, these problems lead to a sharp reduction in the interval an engine spends on wing and a cascading increase in the number of unplanned visits to service centers.

A historic peak of the crisis was recorded in March 2025, when 648 aircraft powered by GTF engines were grounded simultaneously due to a lack of components or while awaiting repair, representing 28 percent of the entire global fleet of this aircraft type. As a result, airlines were forced to urgently review their fleet strategies by retaining older aircraft longer and incurring unplanned expenses for leasing.

Experts warn that the scale of the problem will expand in parallel with increasing production volumes of modern passenger aircraft. While manufacturers delivered about 2,000 engines of this class in 2024, the annual delivery volume is expected to stabilize at approximately 3,700 units between 2030 and 2040.

Such growth will trigger a critical overload of repair infrastructure. Analysts forecast that annual capital overhauls for LEAP engines will jump from the current 600–800 visits per year to more than 5,000 by 2040, while for GTF engines, this figure will grow from 1,000 to more than 2,000 servicing operations annually.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh emphasized that simply investing in the expansion of manufacturer facilities cannot resolve the problem. To stabilize the market, airlines require direct and non-discriminatory access to parts, an expanded list of certified alternative repair methods, and the demonopolization of the aftermarket service sector. As systemic measures, the authors of the report propose accelerating the regulatory approval of new component restoration technologies, eliminating barriers for independent service companies, and implementing uniform, transparent principles for long-term spare parts pricing at the stage of concluding aircraft purchase contracts. An agreement between IATA and CFM International, which guarantees freedom of choice in service providers and the use of approved alternative parts, was cited as an example of successful regulation; it was successfully extended in January 2026.