Why the Parts Supply Chain Puts Pressure on Maintainers (Plus How to Help)
Key Highlights
- Parts and supply chain issues ranked as the leading challenge in TBX’s survey, while respondents identified time as their greatest pressure.
- More than a third of large MRO respondents said they experience parts delays every day, reflecting their scale and complex parts needs.
- McLaughlin urged OEMs to improve technical-data access, stakeholders to ease PMA development and maintainers to adopt digital solutions.
As MROs and repair shops struggle to source parts in a constrained supply chain, delays have already begun to compound, impacting maintainers as well as owners, operators and travelers.
TBX CEO Jon McLaughlin recently joined the Aviation Pros Podcast to discuss TBX’s 2026 Annual Survey, which provides insight into supply chain issues that the aircraft maintenance sector has been trying to navigate.
Which key challenges impact the aircraft parts supply chain most?
Discussing TBX’s annual survey—which evaluated a wide variety of repair shops and 100,000+ aircraft in TBX’s system—McLaughlin shared, “We asked people, what's your number one challenge?”
He continued, “And guess what they came back with? Parts and supply chain, number one by far. Beat everything else out.”
“We wanted to learn more about parts…So we made another survey. It was 30 questions, and a lot of people said, hey, you're not going to get any responses. They don't have time for that,” explained McLaughlin.
He added, “Well, guess what? We got over 350 responses…And the number one thing that came back by far from everyone, specifically in the freeform responses, was time.”
“We asked people, what's your number one pressure? And rather than telling us something specific, they all came back to time. And it was interesting because that means different things to different people,” noted McLaughlin.
McLaughlin elaborated, “It's a business where you charge by the hour, so it's a utilization game if you're a shop. Mechanics are billing touch time against aircraft.”
“And if they're losing time, they sort of compound. You lose it not only with that customer or that aircraft, but also down the chain with everyone else who's supposed to come in. Delays stack up,” stressed McLaughlin.
McLaughlin outlined common delays that compound when supply chain constraints meet unscheduled maintenance needs, including:
- Technicians not being able to find a part number
- OEMs stopping production of a part
- OEMs not having inventory to send for several months or even years
- Shops having to explain wait times, aftermarket parts and cost changes to customers
- Shops having to change other schedules to free up additional aircraft parking
“All of those delays and all of those challenges stack up onto each other, creating a perfect storm for the maintainer where there's just no time,” said McLaughlin.
He added, “And they also talk about capacity. Well, I don't have enough technicians to even, once I get the part, to even install the part or learn how to. How do we expect them to even recruit or train apprentices?”
McLaughlin stated, “What I'm hearing from the market and what we heard from the survey is A&Ps are doing the best that they can, but they're not getting the support they need to make the aircraft flyable and airworthy.”
He continued, “It's an impossible task that we've put on the shoulders of A&Ps and IAs and shop owners around the country to just have it all on their shoulders, while the rest of the world is just flying around, wishing our annual was cheaper, and blaming it on mechanics, but they're kind of stuck in this perfect storm of challenges.”
How supply chain issues differ at large, global MROs versus smaller, independent shops
While reflecting on the different supply chain challenges that large and independent MROs face, McLaughlin listed questions that covered shop demographics, such as:
- Who’s ordering parts?
- What does the shop spend on average per year on parts?
- What type of aircraft does the shop work on?
He shared, “The people with the most resources, the big MROs that are spending millions of dollars on parts, that have dedicated teams, fancy inventory software, dedicated accounts with all the OEMs and part suppliers…They feel the most pain.”
McLaughlin noted, “Over a third said they’re experiencing delays every day. It's not once a week, once a month. It's every single day. And thinking about it, that makes sense.”
He outlined some reasons for this, including:
- They see the most aircraft.
- They do the most parts ordering.
- They work with bigger aircraft.
“That means there are more challenges with more parts. The bill of materials might be 25,000 parts on a helicopter,” said McLaughlin.
McLaughlin explained, “There was a lot that came out of that regarding alternatives and how big shops do maintenance versus a small shop…A small shop is doing everything and anything to get the aircraft out the door.”
“A bigger shop is more institutional in how it approaches doing maintenance, which has different challenges but challenges nonetheless,” added McLaughlin.
Another key difference McLaughlin pointed out is that many smaller shops focus on general aviation (GA) and single-engine piston aircraft, like Cessna and Piper platforms. He discussed all the avenues independent shops take to source parts for GA repairs, like:
- Calling around to sources
- Purchasing aftermarket parts through eBay and other online retailers
- Using salvage channels
- Contacting suppliers
- Opting for PMA alternatives
“When you're a big MRO, you're dealing with a different kind of customer,” McLaughlin stated, “You might not have the single owner who's out there flying for pleasure. You might have a 135, a medevac, or an aerial firefighting company.”
He continued, “You might have a VIP charter, which is a flight hours business. So, you got them breathing down your neck to get the part, to get the aircraft out the door to go fly because you don't want to get hit on the flight hour side.”
Why using PMA parts is an imperfect solution, for now
Discussing Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) replacement parts, McLaughlin commented, “There are PMA alternatives for small aircraft, and it's a rich ecosystem. The bigger aircraft, I think there's an opportunity, but it's just more opaque. We don't know. I don’t think we’re having the right conversations.”
McLaughlin explained, “There's a lack of PMA alternatives because there aren’t a million jets flying around for certain variants. You may have less than 100 of some of these aircraft, with only 50 of them flying…If I'm going to make a onesie, twosie part, and I'm a PMA provider, am I going to make 150 of these? And that's the whole market.”
He elaborated, “PMAs need a certification process…and one of the things that has come up in conversation is after Boeing 737 Max, the FAA has retrenched a little bit and made it easier to certify things and offer competing alternatives.”
“I think we want OEMs to give us parts and then have a good cost to them,” said McLaughlin, “We want providers to offer up and certify parts.”
He warned, “If we make it very hard to do those things or we don't have any controls, I think the system can get off the rails. And we're seeing some of those things happen now with markups of 1000% and up.”
How can the industry respond and alleviate supply chain pressures for maintainers?
Mentioning results from TBX’s 2026 GA Parts Survey from a question about how supply chain challenges could persist, McLaughlin noted, “Two-thirds thought it was going to get worse. Only 14%, thought it was going to get a little bit better or stay the same, and then I think one person thought it was going to get better.”
“I think the complexity of the OEM is not showing anything,” said McLaughlin, “And what I would like to see is some evidence there's some low hanging fruit here or some action items that came out of this.”
He continued, “It's a great opportunity to rally OEMs, the trade associations, the FAA and everyone around some key easy things to then help alleviate some of the pressure. And I think we can do it. It's not hard stuff.”
McLaughlin offered advice to aviation stakeholders, providing the following action items:
- For OEMs: Make it easy for A&Ps and maintainers to access your technical data.
- For the FAA and stakeholders: Make it easier for PMA companies to create alternative parts.
- For maintainers: Leverage technology and embrace modern digital solutions.
McLaughlin concluded, “I would love to see some of the key stakeholders align with the market around the maintainers to help alleviate some of the pressure. And then I think we can change things.”
About the Author
Emily Gorski
