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Aircraft MRO: maintenance, repair and overhaul in practice

How aircraft maintenance works as an operation and a business: programmes, checks, shops, planning, reliability, records, markets, people and trends

By Aerospace Garage Desk · Introductory · 45 minutes · 24 narrated pages · Updated October 2026

What you will be able to do

  • ✓ Define maintenance, repair and overhaul, say who is responsible for an aircraft's airworthiness, and trace a maintenance programme from the manufacturer's analysis to the operator's approved programme.
  • ✓ Distinguish line from base maintenance, describe the main check types and the off-wing engine and component shops, and relate each to its share of MRO spending.
  • ✓ Explain how planners turn a programme into work packages, why hangar slots and turnaround time drive MRO economics, and how materials and tooling are controlled.
  • ✓ Explain how reliability programmes measure a maintenance programme, how airworthiness directives and service bulletins enter the work, and why records decide an aircraft's value.
  • ✓ Describe the size and shape of the MRO market, compare the main provider and contract models, and explain the licensing pipeline that supplies the workforce.
  • ✓ Explain how data, inspection technology and sustainability goals are changing MRO, and where the rules keep humans in charge.

Course content

Session 1 · What MRO is, and where the maintenance programme comes from

1.1

  1. The work that keeps aircraft flying · free preview
  2. From design analysis to planning data
  3. The operator's approved maintenance programme
  4. From the investigation file: the jackscrew on Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Session 2 · Line, base, engines and components

1.2

  1. Line maintenance: the daily rhythm
  2. Base maintenance: C-checks and heavy checks
  3. Engine and component shops
  4. Worked example: sizing a rotable pool
Session 3 · Planning the work: packages, slots, materials and tools

1.3

  1. From programme to work package
  2. Hangar slots and turnaround time
  3. Materials, rotables and tooling
  4. Worked example: building a C-check work package
Session 4 · Reliability, directives and records

1.4

  1. Reliability programmes: measuring the programme
  2. Airworthiness directives and service bulletins
  3. Records and digital maintenance
  4. Worked example: setting and reading a reliability alert level
Session 5 · The MRO market, business models and people

1.5

  1. The size and shape of the market
  2. Who does the work, and how it is paid for
  3. People: the licensing pipeline
  4. Worked example: pricing an engine flight-hour agreement
Session 6 · Trends: predictive maintenance, drones and sustainability

1.6

  1. Predictive maintenance
  2. Drones, robots and automated inspection
  3. Sustainability and the MRO of tomorrow
  4. Worked example: from predictive alert to planned replacement

Who this course is for

Upskill courses are for professional development and are not approved by any aviation authority. Learner Terms

Course content © Aerospace Garage Limited. All rights reserved.