This study talks about top three trends such as outsourcing MRO, aging aircraft and lean impacting the MRO segment.

Outsourcing MRO has been seen as a cost-effective solution for flight operators for a simple reason: it allows them to concentrate on the mission at hand - be that the transportation of people and cargo or a defense/security related mission. However, the nugget is the rationalization of assets as a balance between in-sourcing and outsourcing is established.

With regard to aging aircraft, the issues are compounded by the increased operational tempo undertaken by air transport and military assets. The air transport industry has exhibited significant discipline in adding new aircraft. In the military world, the aircraft fleets have operated at a tempo that at times exceeds specified requirements by thousands of percentage points. Rather than flying 100 hours per year, the aircraft are recording that number of hours in weeks.

Finally, with regard to LEAN operations there has been a serious endeavor to instill LEAN techniques and processes throughout the MRO world.