Aircraft
Repair Cost Inflation: What Is Going On?
How big is the problem and what are its causes?

In recent years, western economies have enjoyed incredibly low levels of price inflation overall. Certain costs have bucked the trend, however, as you will know very well if you have tried renting an apartment in London or San Francisco. Another of these “outliers” appears to be the cost of repairing aircraft hull damage. So, how big is the problem and what are its causes?

Earlier this year, Global’s actuaries looked at the cost of larger partial hull losses from our airline portfolio over a six-year period (2010/11 to 2016/17). They found that for all loss causes (e.g., bird strike, runway excursion, taxiing incidents), the average size of the claims rose between 32% and 133% depending on the type of loss. By way of comparison, the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by about 10% in the same period.