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MRO con tracts. MRO providers that can offer predictive maintenance services
stand to gain a competitive advan tage over those without access to re al-time, block-
chain-enabled data. And blockchain could have impor tant safety implications, too.
If avia tion regulators or manufacturers require supersession of a part, opera tors could
instantly see which planes have affected parts that require in spection or replacement.
Replacing warranties with guar antees. Parts warranties may help aircraft
operators control mainte nance costs to a degree, but they still require careful in-
ventory manage ment. In the future, blockchain technology could enable the
spread of intelligent “power-by-the-hour” service arrangements — in which a sup-
plier guarantees the supply, re pair, and overhaul of the compo nents and systems
it provides — to every cor ner of the aircraft. Real-time con figuration and mainte-
nance data could allow original equipment man ufacturers to predict the condi-
tion, usage, and, ultimate ly, life span of parts or systems and tailor their produc-
tion process es to ma ke sure spares are ava ilable on a just-in-time ba sis. That would
improve service for their customers while cutting their own inventory costs.
Aircraft finance
The wealth of information about a plane’s makeup, usage, and mainte nance that
could be stored and up dated in real time using blockchain technology stands to
have a large impact on how aircraft are valued. Finance benefits include:
Building value in the secondary market. Jet engines that are main tained to
high standards and include only verified authentic parts fetch premium prices on
the secondary market. With its ability to provide verifiable maintenance records
that are updated in real time, blockchain could extend that value to the entire
aircraft. If buyers in the secondary market had greater confi dence in their pur-
chases and ability to select from the best-maintained planes, the end-of-service
value of aircraft could rise.
Transforming leasing. Today, roughly half of the global com mer cial aircraft
fleet of about 23,000 planes is leased. Leasing facilitates growth for airlines and
creates bal ance-sheet flexibility across the in dustry. But the end-of-lease hand off
is often cumbersome, typically re quiring the full teardown of the air craft in order
to inventory its parts and assess their condition. However, if the provenance and
usage of parts were tracked via a blockchain-en abled solution, only those parts