An analytical model of the replacement costs of aircraft engine life-limited parts

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present novel recursive expressions for modelling the replacement costs of aircraft engine life-limited parts during shop visits to assist engine operators in both evaluating their decisions regarding the applied life-limited parts management strategies and tracking the replacement costs consistently throughout the life of the engine. Design/methodology/approach The replacement costs of aircraft engine life-limited parts are modelled analytically in this research, which strives to quantify the costs of used and unused lives of the replaced parts, incurred during engine shop visit events. Inputs for this model include the list price of life-limited parts, the replacement decisions made on all previous shop visits and the number of cycles the engine has operated at different thrust ratings on all previous operating intervals. Findings The average annual escalation rate of life-limited parts list prices was shown to range from 5% to 7%. The presented model is not only suitable for calculating the costs of used and unused lives of life-limited parts during past engine shop visit events but also for application in the life-limited parts replacement cost forecasting and optimisation models. Originality/value Uniquely derived recursive expressions represent the final result of the developed model which, to the authors’ knowledge, had not been studied elsewhere in the academic literature. The analysis of aircraft engine life-limited part list prices carried out to account for the average annual escalation rate enables the prediction of replacement costs during subsequent shop visits.

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