Global spending on aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul is on track to approach 193 billion dollars by 2036, according to Oliver Wyman's Global Fleet and MRO Market Forecast. The research firm's annual MRO survey found the market already topped 136 billion dollars in 2025, up from 126 billion dollars in 2024, and projected spending to climb toward 140 billion dollars in 2026 as an extended maintenance upswing continues.

The forecast breaks maintenance demand into four segments: airframe, component, engine and line maintenance. Engine work is the largest and fastest-growing category, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.3 percent from 2026 through 2036, accelerating to 4.4 percent in the back half of the forecast period from 2031 to 2036. Line maintenance follows at a 3.4 percent compound annual rate, component work at 3.2 percent, and airframe maintenance at 1.5 percent, the slowest of the four categories.

Oliver Wyman ties the growth to an aging aircraft fleet that requires more frequent repairs, along with durability issues surfacing on newer engine platforms. The survey also points to mounting cost pressure behind the spending increase. Average maintenance labor rates are climbing 5.5 percent to 6 percent annually, roughly double the prepandemic pace, while more than 40 percent of companies report rising direct labor attrition.

Engine labor rate growth is outpacing other categories worldwide, with the steepest increases recorded outside North America.

Source: Consulting.us - https://www.consulting.us/news/13447/shortages-high-costs-loom-over-growing-aviation-maintenance-sector-oliver-wyman-survey