The commercial air transport industry is experiencing an unprecedented level of long-term AOG (Aircraft on Ground) issues resulting from mandated groundings and multiple Airworthiness Directive (AD) regimes, affecting both variant and new type power plants. To understand the reasons behind this, we need to consider where the industry is in terms of the large transport aircraft development cycle.
Since the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 entered service in the early 1990s, there have been few major changes in the design of contemporary passenger aircraft. The arrival of the Airbus A380 was a step change in size, however the technological advances were more organic. It was not until the arrival of the B787 and A350 that we experienced wholescale change in terms of structure and systems. The power plants on these aircraft, built on the pedigree of the B777/A380 engines, incorporate the latest design of gas path components.
