Reducing Op Disruption with Training

Maintenance training of 150 or more technicians spread over 7-8 years can reduce the costs of operational disruptions such as delays and cancellations (D&C's) by 84%, according to a study by Management & Excellence (M&E) and the Pratt & Whitney Customer Training Center. Airlines training 50 technicians or fewer over the same study period suffered D&C costs 542% higher than airlines which trained 150 technicians.

Those carriers which trained 150 or more technicians over the ten years examined, showed a D&C cost of only $14 per cycle, while those which trained 50 or fewer technicians incurred a cost of $90 per cycle. The average of all carriers studied was $37 per cycle, which was 160% higher than the top performers.

The study of delays and cancellations over the period of 2008-2017 among ten leading airlines from the USA, Europe and Asia considered the connection between the number of technicians trained, the number of years training and operational disruptions such as D&C's, air turn backs and aborted takeoffs. The data considered technicians trained at P&W in line and base courses for narrow body aircraft. Currently these engines are operated by 190 airlines in 70 countries.