MRO Blockchain Alliance To Explore The Technology’s $3.5bn Potential

While it could appear like all industries under the sun have been going for blockchain technology, the advantages for aircraft MRO were potentially significant.

According to PwC, MRO costs could be reduced by $3.5bn worldwide using blockchain technology. This cut would be 5% of overall expenses, and blockchain would increase revenue within the aerospace industry by 4%, equivalent to $40billion. 

Making Blockchain In Aircraft Maintenance A Reality

MRO Blockchain Alliance was first introduced in 2019, during an event organised by HAECO Group, which has been the world’s top aircraft maintenance and engineering firms. HAECO Group was formed by some of the most prominent players that came from the aircraft MRO industry.

Over the next few months, MRO Blockchain Alliance would launch and develop a proof-of-concept blockchain solution that would allow the monitoring of aircraft parts in the industry, both when they were maintained and moved. This would involve several different professionals in the aerospace industry, including airlines manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers and lessors. 

It would make sure that each part should have a digital passport, which would represent and verify the part as a genuine part, and a digital thread, which would provide complete details of where they had been and who was its custodian.

How Blockchain Will Impact The Industry

This would increasingly change the industry, which has been lacking a global database, has partial digitalisation and views partial sharing of such data. As a result, it was expected that the blockchain solution would give dramatic benefits to the aircraft MRO industry, which had been handling 25 billion parts a year.

SITA's President of Air Travel Solutions, Matthys Serfontein cited that within the industry, as interconnected as theirs, the ability to record and share common data in a safe manner without giving up that data control was crucial to inspiring new efficiencies in air travel, which especially fit the MRO sector. The MRO Blockchain Alliance has planned to have first proof-of-concept live by the second quarter of this year.