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This includes the life extension, phasing, repair software used to manage aviation maintenance needs to be
and maintenance of critical assets as they orbit replaced, others are being forced to upgrade by their software
the earth. The market is huge. Some research vendor. These upgrades involve a major technology shift, and
organisations forecast as much $14.3 Billion particularly with the heavily customised ERP implementations, will
In-orbit Servicing & Manufacturing revenue even end up requiring the effort of a brand-new implementation.
through 2030. In 2023 expect to see enabling These upgrades are required just to keep maintenance software
technology evolve alongside the expanded operational, let alone support new business models, growth plans
commercialisation of space. or new aircraft introductions.
Prediction 3: Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Investment in modern aviation maintenance software is vital for
takes flight in commercial aviation – nearly airlines to grow and thrive in the current marketplace. “Evergreen”
25 per cent of top AAM start-ups will go from maintenance solutions will enable airlines to deploy continuous
prototype to Entry into Service (EIS) by 2024 improvements over time instead of massive upgrade projects at
The commercial aviation Advanced Air Mobility the end of system lifecycles. An evergreen solution will guarantee
ongoing system performance characteristics, and scale MRO to
(AAM) industry is still in “start-up” mode. There meet passenger and business demand now and into the future.
are some stand-out OEMs manufacturing the
next-generation of air transportation, but there This will also enable them to capitalise on new embedded technol-
ogies to improve automation and optimisation, while maintaining
is still more progress to be made in terms of security standards. This is underlined by a recent ARC Advisory
aviation authority certification and creating Group report: “There is a growing trend among carriers with large
the supporting infrastructure to manage these fleets to seek enterprise level core MRO solutions that are more
new methods of travel. Projections from the
Advanced Air Mobility Index show that 24 per comprehensive in scope (fleet/line, engine, component, heavy
maintenance), and are at enterprise scale. Based on the research
cent of the top AAM start-ups are expected to of this study, legacy ERP/MES systems are being replaced or seek
move from prototype and testing to Entry into replacement by core MRO solution sets at enterprise scale. The
Service (EIS) over 2023 and 2024. shift in the market share of MRO software solution providers
On the regulatory side, there are also encour- reflects this growing trend among the top carriers.”
aging breakthroughs. At the beginning of Prediction 5: Sustainability progress will be made – Sustainable
November 2022, the FAA proposed its crite- Aviation Fuel production will reach 1bn litres in 2023
ria for the Joby Aviation Model JAS4-1 eVTOL
air taxi aircraft to be certified—providing an More and more aviation organisations are making sustainability
example of how eVTOL certification would work pledges, and sustainable progress is being made in both tradi-
in practice. Over the next few years, as the tional and new forms of aircraft propulsion. Uptake in use of
industry matures, many of these manufactur- sustainable aviation fuel is growing to power traditional air-
ers will become the operators and maintainers frames. IATA figures estimates that Sustainable Aviation Fuel
of these new air assets. (SAF) production will close out 2022 at 300 million litres—a three-
To get there though, the Advanced Air Vehicle fold increase on 2021 production. Current estimates expect SAF
manufacturers will need to shift from prototyp- to account for 65 per cent of the mitigation needed for industry
ing mode to production mode. As start-ups this net zero CO2 emissions, requiring a production capacity of 450
is new territory for most of the leading AAM billion litres annually in 2050. IATA also highlights total commer-
companies, and infrastructure that can provide cial flights using SAF have now exceeded 450,000 and over 50
a digital backbone capable of supporting AAM airlines are using SAF in some form.
system design, manufacturing, supply chain, Deloitte sees Advanced Air Mobility also having a key role to help
and aftermarket services, will be essential to the aviation sector meet sustainability targets, particularly in
develop the successful commercialisation and light of the certification progress outlined above for brand new
sustainment of AAM now and into the future. methods of transport. In fact, orders are rising as more airline

Prediction 4: Traditional airframe maintenance operators start to purchase and invest in the growing commer-
software support is past its sell-by date – cial AAM industry. Cirium reports investments and orders from
one in three top airline operators face MRO leading global airlines including Air Canada, United Airlines, and
upgrade and modernisation challenges in 2023 Japan Airlines.
On the flip side, traditional airframe sustain- AAM can address emissions from related ground transporta-
ment and support is also coming under the tion for regional or urban movement—a recent Deloitte study
microscope. A large proportion of top airlines estimated AAM can reduce travel time by 75 per cent with
are managing their maintenance processes zero operating emissions for a 25-mile intracity trip. Similarly,
through highly configured ERP implementa- McKinsey estimates short-haul flights, flights below 600 miles in
tions, older best of breed systems, or legacy length, account for 17 per cent of total airline CO2 emissions,
software. While some of these implementa- and AAM has potential to help alleviate these problems with
tions are coming to the end of their system electrification and hybrid propulsion of standard airframes for
lifecycles, getting to the point where existing short-haul and regional distances.

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