To understand the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market, one first needs to understand the worldwide airline fleet. TeamSAI notes in its global MRO forecast for 2012-22 that the airline fleet grew 3.2% in 2011 to 20,840 in-service commercial jet aircraft. Expect the passenger fleet to grow 4.4% and the cargo fleet to increase 3.3% each year in the next decade, predicts TeamSAI in the 10-year MRO forecast it unveils this week at Aviation Week's MRO Americas Conference.

The growth of the air transport market, has triggered massive fleet renewal by the Russian carriers with Western-built aircraft carrying 89% of the country's passengers in 2011.

FRANKFURT—Europe's airlines are under enormous economic stress. Some are to be sold and some—like Malev and Spanair—already have disappeared this year. The consequences for the MRO sector are likely to be more subtle, but that does not mean no changes. Those airlines that already have big MRO organizations in the region will have to look at how to make those operations more efficient. Those that do not will be forced to seek outsourced work for even less. And those that have some in-house capabilities are facing crucial choices: sell, combine or expand.

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A new composite surface preparation can lessen the labor-intensive process.

FRANKFURT—The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently came up with some encouraging figures. It was never safer to fly than it was in 2011. There were 0.77 hull losses per one million departures in 2005; in 2011 that figures improved significantly to 0.37. And there were regions like Europe or North Asia that did not have any hull losses at all last year.

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Air Canada posted higher maintenance costs recently. What are the reasons? Butterfield: Costs are going up based on cyclical costs and a couple of contracts that were structured in a manner where you paid more on the back half than you did on the front half. So, it is true, but we have some mitigating plans that we are going to employ over the next year that can change that as we go forward.