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Airlines and MRO providers continue to expand their PMA use for a variety of reasons. Pricing remains a key driver, but an Aviation Week/Naveo Consulting survey finds other factors, led by availability, are becoming increasingly important.
The commercial aftermarket’s strength is no secret to anyone involved in supporting the world’s airlines. From providing overhaul shop slots to selling parts, demand for just about anything related to keeping aircraft airworthy is rising at a steady clip.
That strength is generally assumed to be helping suppliers of non-OEM parts—principally parts manufacturer approval (PMA) holders. The biggest PMA players consistently report strong demand for their products and steady investments in making more, while others with already sizable aftermarket footprints, such as AAR Corp., are eyeing the parts as a promising growth area.
Less clear, however, are specific PMA material demand patterns and how they are changing. Seeking some insight, Aviation Week teamed with London-based Naveo Consultancy on a survey. Details and some key takeaways are presented here for the first time.
Even the best surveys offer just a peek into subjects, rather than painting an entire, detailed picture. This survey of more than 100 commercial aftermarket executives is no exception.
Encouragingly, respondents that identified themselves as airlines or MRO providers—the PMA end users of most interest to this publication’s audience—made up sizable percentages of all survey-takers.
Geography as defined by each organization’s base of operations was heavily tilted toward North America, which generated 67% of the responses. Europe was next, with 14%, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at 8%. The Middle East, South America and Africa shared the remaining 11%. North America’s market size and a generally strong acceptance of PMA parts, particularly among U.S. carriers, likely explains part of the disparity.
But even factoring in these variables, the geographic imbalance between the respondents and the global commercial aviation business is clear. Given the different levels of PMA acceptance by region due to factors such as regulatory variances and established operator norms—some airlines just prefer OEM parts—assuming similar biases in the survey results is prudent.
Simply put, the survey results do not reveal everything about PMA usage among commercial operators. But the data does provide some interesting insights on how parts are being used by key stakeholders and what the future holds.
The key bottom-line takeaways from the survey: PMA usage is increasing and shows little signs of slowing down. Nearly half of all respondents report an increase in PMA usage over the last three years, including about one-third that say the upward shift has been greater than 10%. Most of the rest say PMA usage has stayed about the same, leaving only 5% that report a reduction.
The trends are expected to hold in the short term, respondents say. Nearly 60% see PMA purchases increasing during the next three years, while 25% of those expect to boost it by more than 20%.
“There’s no question this is good news for PMA suppliers,” says Naveo Managing Director Richard Brown, who played a leading role in developing the survey and analyzing the results. “Nearly 60% expect usage to rise, while only 8% expect their usage to fall.”
- See also: A Brief PMA Primer
Declines may not necessarily be due to shifting preference to OEM parts, Brown notes. Given the recent Airbus and Boeing delivery delays, an operator’s PMA usage decline may follow a wave of new aircraft coming into the fleet that have supplier warranties, lessening the need for alternative parts.
Another area of interest among aftermarket service providers and those that sell to them is the motivation behind using PMA parts. They are generally—though not always—less expensive than the OEM parts they replace. But how prevalent is the desire to save money for the average purchaser of PMA? The survey suggests price is a leading factor, but hardly the only important one.
Respondents were given a list of factors that influence PMA parts purchasing and asked to assign one of five priority levels—ranging from not important to extremely important—to each.
Among respondents, 88% rate price versus comparable OEM parts as being either moderately, very or extremely important—the three top choices.
But aspects of how easy it is to obtain OEM parts weighed significantly as well. For part availability, 91% cite that as at least moderately important.
Long lead times are a major factor as well, with 94% citing that as at least moderately important in prompting them to look at PMA alternatives. This figure includes 50% labeling it as very important and 32% as extremely important, the highest single percentages in the top two categories. Among airline respondents, the lead-time issue matches “items beyond economical repair” as the most influential factors, with 91% of carrier respondents ranking each as at least moderately important.
“Poor OEM part availability is a major driver of customers having to turn to PMA parts, even if they have a preference for OEM parts,” Brown says. “Long OEM new-part lead times drive PMA usage. It’s a sobering thought for OEMs. Unsatisfactory delivery performance might drive customers to PMA parts.”
General purchasing trends and drivers behind them paint part of the PMA story. For many suppliers and a few top-tier manufacturers, the types of PMA being used is the most interesting alternative-parts topic.
As the global aviation fleet matures, a larger number of older aircraft are remaining in service longer. They may not fly with top-tier carriers, but delivery delays mean plenty of older Boeing 737s, Airbus A320s and widebodies remain in service as airlines await long-expected deliveries. Smaller passenger and cargo operators often find use for cheaper, older aircraft, however.
Meanwhile, manufacturers must channel their resources, including supply chain capacity, to current-generation models. In extreme cases, parts production for still-popular legacy models can be affected. In 2024, Pratt & Whitney acknowledged cutting into critical parts production for the V2500 fleet because it needed the material for similar PW1000G geared turbofan parts being pulled from service as part of the contaminated powder metal inspection program (Inside MRO September 2024, p. MRO16).
The situation was short-lived, but it underscores the trade-offs manufacturers sometimes face. The higher the number of older aircraft and engines remaining in service, the more likely it is that certain parts will not be available. This creates opportunities for PMA providers to sign license agreements with type certificate holders or to develop their own parts.
This helps explain why PMA usage continues to advance beyond applications in which safety is of minimal concern, such as common seat and other interiors parts, and into more critical areas. Acute challenges in recent years, led by new aircraft availability and durability problems, have created shortages on the newer legacy platforms, such as the CFM International CFM56 and IAE V2500, as more of those engines are kept in service. This has helped create demand for more complex parts, such as Chromalloy’s CFM56 and V2500 hot-section PMAs.
Aviation Week/Naveo survey respondents claim a variety of usages, with notable variations based on geography and company function. The survey shows that 31% of respondents are using hot-section parts, followed closely by consumable airframe parts, such as fasteners.
A look at airline respondents exclusively shows a different usage pattern. The interiors categories dominate the top of the list, with airframe consumables mixed in. Parts in more flight-critical applications such as engine hot section, hydraulics and fuel system are used by fewer carriers.
“The responses suggest high-touch areas where OEMs have had longer lead times and supply chain challenges may be encouraging more PMA usage among airlines,” Brown says.
Among respondents that identified as representing lessors, half say they use PMA parts in cabin interiors. Interestingly, half also say they have engine hot-section PMA parts in their fleet inventory.
Beyond part function, another oft-cited factor that influences PMA usage is geography. Regulatory hurdles to PMA acceptance are coming down—outright bans are practically unheard of, but variations in requirements persist. Even in places with no regulatory barriers, well-established preferences, such as filling spares bins with OEM parts, linger.
A look at PMA usage by geography highlights some of these trends. Usage in North America is widely distributed among part types, with engine hot section and airframe parts at the top of the list. Conversely, the six respondents based in the Middle East have much narrower applications for PMA usage, with an emphasis on interiors.
Responses to another question underscore that a PMA’s backing influences customer confidence levels. An overwhelming 86% of respondents answer “yes” to the question, “Do you believe there is value in PMA parts being licensed by the OEM?”
This helps underscore the variety of PMA available—an important consideration when discussing the broader alternative-parts marketplace and general acceptance levels of PMA parts.
Of course, PMA parts usage decisions are not necessarily made by operators. The opposition of aircraft lessors to using them outside of common interiors parts is well known. But survey responses suggest the boundaries are not ironclad.
One question asked respondents whether they have negotiated with lessors about installing PMA on leased equipment. Among the total responses, 62% say “yes.” Among the subset of airlines that responded, 59% report negotiating with lessors directly about PMA parts.
“This supports the notion that lessors may be open to using PMA parts,” Brown says. “It’s just a case of the operators having to discuss it with them.”
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