Why airlines like American are scrambling to make engines last longer [Video]

Bottlenecks abound

With many engines needing overhauls about every 7,000 flights, keeping older airplanes longer means more routine maintenance and revamps, adding to demand when they’re due to come into the shop. Those weekslong overhauls are exhaustive: They can cost $5 million apiece and can go for double that for wide-body airplanes, according to Kevin Michaels, a managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory.

At American’s shop in Tulsa, workers remove hundreds of parts, replacing life-limited components and cleaning and inspecting others, which includes spraying them down with a a fluorescent penetrant so defects can be seen under a black light.

Windfall for engine makers

GE Aerospace, which became an independent company in April, said in July that it will invest $1 billion to upgrade its engine shops around the world over the next five years.

Got spares?

For many airlines, there aren’t many alternatives to costly engine overhauls with demand on the rise for replacement engines, especially if the carrier has one …