American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS)

ISSN (Print) 2313-4410, ISSN (Online) 2313-4402

© Global Society of Scientific Research and Researchers
http://asrjetsjournal.org/

Study to Determine the Aircraft on Ground (AOG) Cost

of the Boeing 777 Fleet at X Airline

Basem Badkook*

Eng.Basem Badkook, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah 21231, Saudi Arabia
Email: Basembadkook@yahoo.com

Abstract

A research was conducted to study and investigate AOG events and cost in X Airline B777 fleet. AOG data was
gathered for one year; this set demonstrated that the X Airline B777 fleet experienced 146 AOG events during
this period. The critical parts that where causing AOG where distinguished out of this set; 115 parts were
causing the AOGs. ABC Analysis was conducted to this set considering three dimensions; Aircraft, part
number, and ATA chapter. Regarding first dimension, this analysis shows that the critical AOG Aircraft are 7
aircrafts out of 28 which represented 25% of the number of Aircraft that experienced AOG events had 45% of
total AOG occurrences. Regarding ATA chapter, the full set of AOG was sorted by ATA chapters and this
analysis showed that 7 chapters out of 26 which represented 27% of the chapters had 50% of total AOG
occurrences. As for ABC analysis for part numbers, this analysis revealed that 25 parts were causing 91% of the
AOGs cost. A second ABC analysis was led on 25 parts set revealed that 7 parts were the most important that
where causing 54% of the AOGs occurrences. All critical part numbers consider as Rotable material. After
analysis the data, the average replenishment cost for AOG situations were estimated around $8,785.36 and the
average flight delay cost is $22753.53. This research was let to comparing X Airline results with other Airlines
and tries to know the common and different elements between X Airline and other Airlines in Middle East by
sending questionnaire to the Middle East Airlines. The main factors that affect AOG cost were determined and
ranked by using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) to reduce AOG cost. It was applied based on the method of
decision support and questionnaires answered by experts.

Keywords: Aircraft Maintenance; AOG; ABC Analysis; ATA Chapter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* Corresponding author.

51
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

1. Introduction

The major goal of MRO “Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul” is to ensure that the aircraft in operative
condition before the flight.

Regarding to the importance of the maintenance, it is also desirable to consider the spare parts to be a major
component of the maintenance processes. Due to any failure in providing spare parts for the aircraft, this will
lead to situation called “Aircraft on Ground” (AOG). AOG is a term in aviation maintenance indicating that a
problem is serious enough to prevent an aircraft from flying. Generally to return the aircraft into the service, the
airline need to provide the part immediately to fill these requirements, otherwise it will lose its profit and its
reputation. AOG applies to any aviation materials or spare parts that are needed immediately for an aircraft to
return to service. AOG suppliers refer to qualified personnel and dispatch the parts required to repair the aircraft
for an immediate return to service. Mitigation of AOG status when an aircraft "goes AOG" and materials
required are not on hand, parts and personnel must be driven, flown, or sailed to the location of the "grounded
Aircraft". Whether you have one plane placed in airplane on ground status, or many planes that cannot fly, your
business can be affected due to lost revenue, increased commercial airline costs and delays in getting supplies
where they are needed. For this reason, it is critical to have an aircraft maintenance partner that can get your
planes in the air as quickly as possible. The only thing that can differentiate AOG orders is the urgency, when an
order placed under AOG category from procurements, this mean the part must be available as soon as possible.
There are several ways to acquire parts through AOG, if there is an existing repair order, the airline must pay
more and expedite the delivery, if there is no repair order, the airline search for new purchase order but it must
be through AOG desks which are located around the world. The AOG cost can be divided into two sections, the
first section refers to technical cost and it includes:

• Part replacement /repair cost

• Part shipping cost
• Sup part replacement cost
• Labor cost

The second section refers to operational cost and it is related to all the cost that Airlines bear due to AOG
situation and not related to maintenance cost which includes:

• Taxing cost
• Crew cost
• Transportation cost
• Accommodation cost
• Meal cost
• load/Reload Bags cost
• Catering cost

1.1. Literature Review

52
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Many studies had been published about categorizing the importance of AOG and spare parts. To find the critical
part that causes the AOG with most frequency, there are some techniques and categories as shown in below
studies.

Azim Baluch, Che Sobry Abdullah, and Shahimi Mohtar , Azizah Aisyati, Wakhid Ahmad Jauhari & Cucuk
Nur Rosyidi studied and evaluated best practices in the Maintenance Repairs & Overhauls, discussed the ABC
classification scheme. They used ABC analysis to classify the spare parts. ABC analysis classifies the parts into
three categories “ A which has low percentage of items and high percentage of usage, B which has medium
percentage of items and medium percentage of usage, and C which has high percentage of items and low
percentage of usage. The criteria applied based on the cost of the part in the frequent during last years. The parts
can be classified into classes; the steps of ABC classification are described as follows:

• Listing the spare parts and their demand.

• Determining the contribution of the spare part by multiplying the demand for each item and the value
or price of item.
• Computing the percentage of spare part contribution by dividing the contribution of each spare part
with the total contribution of the spare parts.
• Sorting the spare parts so that the percentages of spare part contribution are listed from higher value to
lower value. The category of spare part could be found by using the above description from [1].

Seraj Yousef Abed developed a New System for Spare Parts Repair to Reduce AOG Situations in SAUDIA
Special Flight Services Division. Minimize AOG achieved by study and diagnose all AOG situations and find
the most critical parts that caused most frequent AOG. Analysis of AOG per aircraft, per ATA chapter
conducted to find the criticality and statistics applied on aircrafts AOG appearances. The results of the study
showed a reduction in the repair time by 80% [2].

T. Rad, N. Shanmugarajan Loblaws examined the Classification of Critical Spares for Aircraft Maintenance.
The objective was to concentrate on using so as to order save parts into three gatherings customary,
investigative chain of importance procedure ,and data envelopment analysis (DEA) strategies in light of
components connected with extra parts unit value, utilization rate, lead time, and unwavering quality. Results
demonstrate that it is worthwhile to utilize DEA strategy to arrange the stock [3].

Abdul Qadar Kara, John Ferguson, Karla Hoffman and Lance Sherry studied Estimating Domestic U.S. Airline
Cost of delay based on European Model. In this paper, they detail a method for calculating the cost of delays to
an airline. The methodology broadens an EU report that ascertained deferrals for three option situations
(minimal effort, gauge costs and high expenses) and for short defers (under 15 minutes) and long defers (more
than 65 minutes).

This paper shows the reasons of flight delayed in the fowling points:

• Mechanical problems with the aircraft.

53
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

• Schedule disruption due to bad weather or air traffic management initiatives (Ground Delay Programs
(GDPs) or Air Flow Programs (AFPs).
• Misaligned crew/ aircraft due to previous delayed flight [4]

Bacchetti1, F. Plebani1, N. Saccani, A.A. Syntetos examined Spare parts characterization and stock
administration a contextual analysis. A dialog of various leveled multi-criteria save parts order technique
produced for stock administration purposes and tried through an escalated contextual analysis in an Italian
family machines fabricating organization. An outlines demonstrated that the scholastic writing worried with
characterization related issues for extra parts administration [5]

Azizah Aisyati, Wakhid Ahmad Jauhari & Cucuk Nur Rosyidi studied how to manage the inventory level for
spare parts on class A and B which commonly known as important classes. The parts can be classified into
classes; the steps of ABC classification are described as follows:

• Listing the spare parts and their demand.

• Determining the contribution of the spare part by multiplying the demand for each item and the value
or price of item.
• Computing the percentage of spare part contribution by dividing the contribution of each spare part
with the total contribution of the spare parts [6]

Michael MacDonnel, studied Aircraft Rotable Inventory Optimization. The question is how to find an
optimization for the planning of spare parts levels used in the support of aircraft operations. In particular, the
model addresses the problem of planning ratable inventory [7]

Mark J. Tedone from studied the problem of Repairable Part Management. He described the work conducted by
American Airlines Decision Technologies to provide decision support in the area of routable part management.
He started by describing if the aircraft landed and a failure occurred to any repairable part, the part will be
removed and replaced with a serviceable one from the stock room [8]

2. Problem Description

X Airline incurs a lot of costs due to aircraft maintenance process. Some of which is scheduled for maintenance
and the others are non- scheduled maintenance issues. Both of them rendered the aircrafts to become out of
service for periods of time. The unscheduled aircrafts come suddenly for maintenance for several reasons e.g.
parts malfunctions leading to a situation called Aircraft on Ground (AOG). This situation makes the aircrafts
unable to fly and X Airline will bear all the expenses resulted from this situation. This study will help X Airline
to estimate and evaluate these expenses in order to reduce or prevent the AOG situation in the future.

2.1. Goal of Study

To determine the average cost incurred due to an AOG occurrence in Boeing 777 Aircrafts at X Airline.

54
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

2.3. Objectives of the Study

• Study and diagnose all AOG’s cases.

• Identify and analyze all parts that are causing most frequent AOG in each Aircraft.
• Determine the average time for out of service Aircrafts
• Study the cost impact of different AOG’s cases.

2.4. Constraints \limitations

• Too much time for collect the data from different departments and questioners.
• Confidential and sensitive information collection.

3. Methodology

To accomplish the objectives of this study, the following methodology was devised:

• Collect the required AOG data.

• Identify the frequency of AOG for each part number.
• Rearrange the data into three categories, Data based on Aircraft, Data based on ATA chapter, and Data
based on Part Number.
• Find the repair, purchase, loan cost for each part number.
• Conduct statistical analysis on AOG data.
• Apply ABC analysis to identify the critical parts.
• Analysis the Technical and Operational Cost for AOG situations.
• Apply Questionnaire on AOG situation for Other Airlines.
• Apply AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) Technique to determine the main factors that Affect AOG
cost.

4. AOG Data

The required AOG data was collected for B777 fleets from maintenance and finance departments for one year.
The AOG data include: AOG quantity, Aircraft that affected by AOG, ATA chapter, Type of the part, out of
service time, replenishment cost. The total AOGs occurrence for B777 fleet was 146 situations also; the number
of parts that caused AOG after remove duplication was 115 parts instead of 146 parts which mean the part failed
more than one time.

4.1. Analysis of AOG Technical Cost

The analysis were fully studied and discussed by using ABC analysis technique in order to know the B777
AOGs events based on Aircrafts, ATA chapters and Part numbers for last year. Also, the average AOG technical
cost or replenishment cost will be determined in order to know how much money X Airline bear on B777 AOGs
situations last year. Analysis Summary of the total Technical AOG Situations include:

55
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

• The Average out of service time is 22:54:36

• Average out of service time waiting for a part is 9:51:38
• Average replenishment cost is $8,785.36

Further analysis of AOG data was conducted based on three factors. These factors were: Aircraft, ATA chapter
and Part Number.

4.1.1. Analysis of AOG Data based on Aircraft

Figure 1: B777 AOG occurrences Based on Aircraft

Figure 1 shows B777 AOG occurrences Based on Aircraft.

The total number of B777 Aircrafts which experienced an AOG is 28 Aircraft. Next an ABC Analysis was
applied to find the Aircrafts that have the highest AOG occurrences. Table 1 shows the Aircrafts with high AOG
situations.

Table 1: ABC Analysis for B777 AOG occurrences Based on Aircraft

The Aircrafts with category A, seven Aircraft considered to be critical based on ABC analysis; these seven
Aircrafts represent 25.00% of the number of Aircrafts that experienced AOG events.

These 7 Aircrafts experienced 66 AOG occurrences out of the total 146 AOGs situations which occurred to the

56
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

28 Aircrafts in one year, up near representing 45% of the total AOG situations.

4.1.2. AOG Data Analysis Based on ATA Chapters

ATA Chapters is a common referencing standard for all commercial aircraft documentation. This commonality
permits greater ease of learning and understanding for pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians,
and engineers alike.

Figure 2 shows B777 AOG occurrences Based on ATA Chapters:

Figure 2: AOG per ATA chapter

The total number of B777 Chapters that appeared with AOG is 26 chapters. After applying ABC analysis to find
the most critical chapters that have a big impact on the AOG, table 2 is showing the critical chapters with the
number of ATA chapters, percentage of critical chapters, AOG occurrences in the chapters, and percentage of
ATA chapters on the total occurrences.

Table 2: ABC Analysis Based on ATA Chapter Seven ATA Chapters considers being critical based on ABC
analysis, these seven ATA Chapters represent 27 % of the total ATA Chapters and has an impact on AOG
occurrences by 50 %.

4.1.3. AOG Data Analysis Based on Part Number

ABC Analysis was applied to find the most critical Aircraft that has a big impact on the AOG cost; the
following table is showing the critical Part Numbers.

57
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Table 3: ABC Analysis Based on Part Numbers

Only Part Numbers with category A will be studied, 25 Part numbers considered to be critical based on ABC
analysis 25 Part numbers represent 21.74% of the total part numbers and has an impact on total cost by 91.04 %.
The 25 Part numbers which categorized as A class are shown in table 4.

Table 4: Most Critical Parts of Part Family

Twenty five Part Numbers out of 115 were considered as an important for AOG cost. 25 parts belong to ratable
material class. It is believed that based on the previous figure, 21.74 % of Part Numbers have a huge impact up
to 91.04% on AOG cost. After the 25 parts based on part number where identified and considered as a critical
parts, an ABC analysis was applied on this set (25 parts) to find out the most critical parts based on the number
of occurrences (Frequency). Select the first 54% of AOG Occurrences as shown in table 5.

Table 5: Critical Part Based on Part

58
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Numbers and Frequency of Occurrences Analysis Summary of Critical Parts Based on Frequency of
Occurrence includes:

• 7 parts considered as Rotable.

• Total AOG Occurrences is 21 Times.
• Average AOG Occurrences is 3 Times.
• A maximum AOG occurrence is 7 Times.
• A minimum AOG occurrence is 2 Times.

4.2. Analysis of AOG Operational Cost

After analysis the total AOG occurrences, I found Some AOG occurrences caused Delays, Substitution&
Cancellation situations and the below figure shows the number of Delays, Substitution, Cancellation and
maintenance situation for B777 at X Airline for one year.

Figure 3: Number of Delays, Substitution, Cancellation and Maintenance Situation for B777

4.2.1. Statistical Analysis for Delay and substitution situations

Figure 4 shows the delay time per minute that were caused by Delay and substitution situations (76 flights).

Figure 4: Delay Time per Minute for Each Delay &Substitution Situation

59
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Table 6 shows the Number of AOG caused delay per Interval period.

Table 6: Time Classification of AOG Delays

Previous table shows the following observations:

• 64.5% of AOG situations experienced delay less than 6 hours

• 21% of AOG situations experienced delay between 6-16 hours
• 14.5% of AOG situations experienced delay more than 16 hours

4.2.2. AOG Costs Analysis Incurred as a Result of Flight Delays and Substitution

This section is related to cost incurred due to flight delays. When a flight is delayed, the airline bears many costs
which can be classified into the following major categories:

• Passengers cost
• Crew cost
• Ground services cost
• Catering cost

Figure 5 shows the total Passengers cost, crew cost, ground services cost and catering cost for 76 delays and
substitution situations.

Figure 5: AOG Costs Incurred as a result of Flight delays and substitution

60
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Figure 5 shows the following observations:

• The total Passengers cost=$877,775

• The total Catering cost=$427,085
• The total Ground services cost=$248,189
• The total Crew cost=$176,218

4.2.3. Total Delay Cost per Flight

The total number of flights that were delayed during the period of study was 76 flights. The total cost of each of
these 76 delayed flights was studied and analyzed. Figure 6 shows the total delay cost for all 76 flights.

Figure 6: Total Delay Cost for each Flight

Figure 6 shows the following observations:

• The total delay cost of all flights = 1,729,268 Dollars

• The average delay cost of all flight = 22,753.53 Dollars
• The maximum delay cost of all flights = 74,756 Dollars
• The minimum delay cost of all flights = 412 Dollars

4.2.4. The Relationship between Delay Time and Total Cost

Figure 7 shows the delay time intervals and the total cost for 76 flights

Figure 7: Delay Time and Total Cost for 76 flights

61
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

As shown in above figure ,the interval 1407 min to 1522 min represent the highest cost which is 344,149 Dollars
while, the intervals 711-826 min represent the lowest cost which is 19103 Dollars.

4.2.5. Total Flights Delay Time and Cost against each Part Number

Figure 8: Total Delay Time for Each Part Number

The total delay time& cost for each part that caused delay situations was calculated. Figures8&9 show total
delay time and total cost incurred due to failure and unavailability of a spare part.

Figure 8 shows the following observations:

• Part Number BACC2C3E06723EE caused the highest delay time which is 33 hours
• Part Number 2651-278-13 caused the lowest delay time which is 15 min

Figure 9: Total Delay Cost for Each Part Number

Figure 9 shows the following observations:

• Part Number BACC2C3E06723EE caused the highest delay cost which is $84,061.13
• Part Number 2651-278-13 caused the lowest delay cost which is $441.48

62
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

4.3. Questionnaire about Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situations of some Airlines in Middle East

This questionnaire is designed to gather information about Aircraft on ground (AOG) situations for Being 777
fleet. It has sent to Middle East Airlines. The main purposes of this questionnaire are comparing X Airline AOG
Data with other Airlines and try to know the common and different elements between X Airline and other
Airlines in Middle East.

The questionnaire includes ten questions as follows:

• How many Boeing 777 Aircraft in your fleet?

• How many AOG situations your Boeing 777 Aircraft fleet experienced last year?
• What is the average number of AOG per month for the B-777 fleet?
• How many Aircrafts in your B777 fleet experienced the most AOG situation last year?
• What are the part numbers that caused the most AOG situation for B777 fleet last year?
• What are the ATA chapters that caused the most AOG situation for B777 fleet last year?
• What was the average flight delay time due to B777 AOG situations last year?
• What was the average cost due to B777 AOG situations last year?
• What is the average component cost of AOG situation; both technical and operational?
• What was the average time elapsed to procure a part that caused AOG last year?

4.3.1. Comparison between X Airline and Other Airlines

After receiving the three questionnaires properly answered from Y, Z, and k, the results of the research study
were compared with those Airlines in order to find the differences with other Airlines.

4.3.2. Boeing 777 Aircrafts for X Airline compared to Other Airlines

Figure 10 shows the number of Boeing 777 fleet for X, Y, Z, and K Airline.

Figure 10: B777 Aircrafts Number for Airlines

Figure 11 shows Y Airline has the largest number of B777 fleets with 120 Aircraft. On the other hand K Airline

63
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

has the smallest B777 fleets with 14 Aircraft only.

4.3.3. AOG Situations for Saudia compared to Other Airlines

Figure 11: B777 AOG for Airlines

Figure 11 shows X Airlines has the highest number of AOG situation with 146 occurrences. On other hand Z
Airline is has lowest AOG situation with 25 occurrences.

4.3.4. Part Numbers that caused the Most AOG situation for X Airline B777 Fleet compared to Other Airlines
B777 fleet

Table 7 shows the common part numbers that caused the most AOG situations for X Airline and other Airlines.

Table 7: Common Part Numbers that Caused the Most AOG Situations

4.3.5. ATA Chapter that caused the Most AOG situation For X Airline B777 Fleet compared to Other
Airlines B777 fleet

Table 8 shows the common ATA chapter that caused the most AOG situations for X Airline and other Airlines.

Table 8: Common ATA Chapters that caused the most AOG situations

64
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

4.3.6. The Average Flight Delay Time Due to B777 AOG situations for X Airline compared to Other Airlines

Figure 12 shows the average flight delay time Due to B777 AOG situations for X, Y, Z, and K Airlines.

Figure 12: Average Flight Delay Time for Airlines

Figure 12 shows X Airlines has the highest average flight delay time with 7 hours. On other hand Y Airlines has
the lowest average flight delay time with 2.5 hours.

4.3.7. Average Cost due to B777 AOG situations for X, Y, Z, and K Airlines

Figure 13 shows that X Airlines has the highest average flight delay cost estimated at $22754. On other hand Y
Airlines has the lowest average flight delay cost at about $14000

Figure 13: Average Cost due to B777 AOG Situations for Airlines

4.3.8. Average components cost due to B777 AOG situations for X, Y, Z, and K Airlines

Figure 14 shows that X Airline has the highest average component cost at $8785. On the other hand Y Airlines
has the lowest average component cost at $5000

65
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

Figure 14: Average Component Cost due to B777 AOG Situations for Airlines

4.4. The Main Factors That Affect AOG Cost by using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) Technique

This section shows the main factors that affect AOG Cost. These factors were presented to experts from Saudia
Aerospace Engineering industry (SAEI) through two rounds of questionnaires in sense to be weighed. It was
applied AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and the results show that the main important factors that affect AOG
Cost. This method can help the decision maker when facing the need of defining priorities to reduce AOG costs
[9, 10, 11]

The factors that affect AOG cost are:

• Type of part Agreement or contracts

• The number of passengers
• Components & Aircraft Reliability
• Methods of providing the Parts (Repair-NewBuy-Loan-Exchange)
• Part Forecasting
• Alternative Aircraft
• Maintenance Program for some parts
• Part Capability
• Human error when determining the failure

The methodology adopted in this Paper is based on AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and follows the
following steps:

• Determination and definition of the experts to answer the questionnaires;

• Elaboration of questionnaires based on the factors;
• Send the questionnaires to experts;
• Elaboration of the second questionnaires combining the four most voted factors in the first round, in
pairs;

66
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

• Send this second questionnaire to the same experts;

• Determination of the weights of each factor based on a second questionnaire;
• Creation of a matrix using the factors applying principles of AHP decision support
• Determining the hierarchy of the final cost analysis.

4.4.1. Definition of the factors to be ranked and definition of experts

The questionnaire was sent to six experts, representing the AOG employees in X Airline.

4.4.2. Results of the First Round of Questions

The result is shown in Table 9. Type of part Agreement or contracts, Components & Aircraft Reliability,
Methods of providing the Parts (Repair-New Buy-Loan-Exchange) and Part Forecasting were considered
relevant by all the experts. It shows the importance of these items to determine the AOG cost.

Table 9: Results of the First Round of Questions

4.4.3. Results of the Second Round of Questions

From the four factors most votes in the first round of questions was then prepared the second questionnaire with
the combination in pairs. Experts selected the most relevant factor in each combination. Table 10 shows the
results of the questionnaire sent to experts.

Table 10: Results of the Second Round of Questions

67
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

4.4.4. Construction of the Decision Matrix

Based on the result obtained in the second questionnaire, it was possible to construct the decision matrix that
shows the relevance of a factor with respect to another. Each of the four factors was named as follows:

A - Type of part Agreement or contracts

B - Components & Aircraft Reliability

C - Methods of providing the Parts (Repair-New Buy-Loan-Exchange)

D - Part Forecasting

Thus, the decision matrix in which shows the relative importance of each of the factors on the other hand is
shown in the table 11, A B C D:

Table 11: Matrix Judgments Obtained

Normalization was done by dividing each matrix element by the sum of the elements belonging to his column.
The normalized matrix is shown in table 12

Table 12: Matrix of Standardized Decision

4.4.5. Hierarchy of the Final Factors

To determine the vector of priority factors, the arithmetic mean of the elements of each row of the matrix was
calculated as a standard. The result is shown in table 13

Table 13: Priority of Factor

68
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

This vector represents the end of the ranking factors. The factor of greatest value in the priority vector is one
that has greater relevance in the same way that the lower value is the least among those analyzed. Thus, the final
ranking of the factors analyzed was as follows:

1- Part Forecasting
2- Methods of providing the Parts (Repair-New Buy-Loan-Exchange)
3- Components & Aircraft Reliability
4- Type of part Agreement or contracts

This indicates that the first two factors are both very important strategy for reducing the AOG cost, while the
latter two have a much lower degree of importance.

5. Conclusion

The AOG occurrences for X Airline B777 fleet were studied for last year. A total of 146 AOG occurrences were
recorded over last year. This set included the parts that occurred several times. A second set was identified after
removing the repeated parts consisted of total 115 parts.

• The total replenishment cost for AOG situations is $1,282,661.94 , the average replenishment cost for
AOG situations is $8,785.36 , the maximum replenishment cost for AOG situations is $250,740.00
and the minimum replenishment cost for is $0.50

• ABC analysis was applied on this set that consisted of 115 parts to identify the critical set of parts. The
results revealed that 25 parts were causing 91% of AOG cost. This set represented only 21.74% of the
total parts. ABC analysis was applied again on the last set that consisted of 25 parts to identify the
critical set of parts. The results revealed that 7 parts were causing 54% of AOG Occurrences.

• The total number of Aircrafts that experienced AOGs where 28 Aircrafts out of the 34 Aircrafts. The
full set of AOG was sorted by Aircraft and this analysis showed that 7 aircrafts out of 28 which
represented 25% of the number of Aircrafts that experienced AOG events had 45% of total AOG
occurrences. Those 7 aircrafts that experienced the heights AOG occurrences were the older aircrafts in
the fleet.
• The full set of AOG was sorted by ATA chapters and this analysis showed that 7 chapters out of 26
which represented 27% of the chapters had 50% of total AOG occurrences. Those 7 chapters that
experienced the heights AOG occurrences.
• The number of Delays, Substitution, Cancellation and maintenance situation for B777 at X Airline
include 66 AOG occurrences in the Maintenance for check, 61 AOG occurrences caused flights delay,
15 AOG occurrences caused flight delays& Substitutions and Only 4 AOG occurrences caused flights
Cancellation.
• The Analysis of delay time per minute that were caused by delay and substitution situations (76 flights)
revealed the following statistics:

69
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

1. Total delay time is 32867 Min

2. Maximum delay time is 1870 Min
3. The average delay time is 432:27 Min
4. The minimum delay time is 15 Min

• The delay cost due to delay and substitution situations (76 flights) revealed the following statistics:

1. The total delay cost of all flights is $ 1,729,268

2. The average delay cost of all flights is $ 22,753.53
3. The maximum delay cost of all flights is $ 74,756
4. The minimum delay cost of all flights is $ 412

• The main costs that are incurred on Airlines when flights delay occur include Passengers cost , Crew
cost, Ground services cost and Catering cost
• As a result of Questionnaire for Aircraft on ground (AOG) situations in Middle East Country Airlines,
the Comparison between X Airline and Other Airlines showed the following:

1. Y Airlines has the largest number of B777 fleets with 120 Aircraft. On other hand the K Airline
has the smallest B777 fleets with 14 Aircraft only.
2. X Airline has the highest number of AOG situation with 146 occurrences. On other hand Z Airline
is has lowest AOG situation with 25 occurrences.
3. X Airlines has the highest average flight delay time with 7 hours. On other hand Y Airlines has the
lowest average flight delay time with 2.5 hours.
4. X Airlines has the highest average flight delay cost estimated at $22754. On other hand Y Airlines
has the lowest average flight delay cost at about $14000.
5. X Airlines has the highest average component cost at $8785. On other hand Y Airlines has the
lowest average component cost at $5000.

• Part Forecasting is the main factor can be useful for managers of airlines when defining priority actions
to reduce AOG costs

6. Recommendations

• X Airline must focus on the critical 7 ATA chapters that had the highest AOG occurrences in order to
reduce AOG occurrences caused by those chapters.
• In order to reduce the AOG situations, X Airline should concentrate on parts forecasting, methods of
providing the Parts (Repair-New Buy-Loan-Exchange) and components & Aircraft Reliability factors
that have effect on AOG cost and update the factors over time to discover the new factors that may
improve X Airline and reduce the AOG cost.
• X Airline should focus on the 25 parts and reduce repair cycle time because these most critical parts
would reduce the AOG cost& occurrences of the B777.

70
 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2016) Volume 25, No 1, pp 51-71

• X Airline should concentrate on the parts that make long delay time and big delay cost.
• X Airline should make repair program for some parts in order to reduce AOG situations.
• X Airline should improve the mechanic and supervisor technical skills by giving them training and
learning in order to discover the parts failure in proper time and reduce AOG time.
• X Airline should make good plan for alternative Aircraft when the AOG occur in order to avoid any
flight delay that may occur and reduce AOG cost.
• X Airline should study the AOG cost every year in order to know the improvements that occur for the
following year.

References

[1] Azizah Aisati, Wakhid Ahmed Jauhari and Cucuk Nur Rosyidi. “Determination Inventory Level for
Aircraft Spare Parts Using Continuous Review Model”, International Journal of Business Research and
Management (IJBRM), Volume (4) : Issue (1) , 2013
[2] Seraj Yousef Abed. “Development of New System for Spare Parts Repair to Reduce AOG Situation in
Saudia Special Flight Services Division”, Wseas Transactions On Business And Economics, ISSN:
1109-9526, Issue 8, Volume 5, August. 2008.
[3] T-Rad , and Wahab, M. I. M. Wahab. “Classification of Critical Spares for Aircraft Maintenance”,
Service Sytem and Service Management (ICSSMM), vol. 8: 1-6, 2011
[4] Kara, Abdul Qadar and Ferguson ,John . “Estimating Domestic U.S. Airline Cost of delay based on
European Model”, International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 23(7-8), 2008
[5] Bacchetti1, F. Plebani1, and Saccani ,N. and Syntetos , A.A. “Spare Parts Classification And Inventory
Management": A Case Study, Manchester: University of Salford Manchester.” , 2010
[6] Aisyati, Azizah , Jauhari ,Wakhid and Rosyidi, Cucuk. “Determination Inventory Level for Aircraft
Spare Parts Using Continuous Review Model”. International Journal of Business Research and
Management (IJBRM),Vol. 4:1, 2013
[7] MacDonnel , Michael. “Aircraft Rotable Inventory Optimization”, Ph.D. Thesis, Aston University,
Birmingham, 2008
[8] Tedone, Mark J. “Repairable Part Management”, institute of operations research and the management
sciences, vol.19: 61, 1989
[9] Moreira, Michelle. “The Main Cost-Related Factors in Airlines Management”, Journal of Transport
Literature, Vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 8-23, 2014
[10] Baluch, Azim and Sobry Abdullah, Che and Mohtar, Shahimi. “Effective Spare-parts Inventory
Management for Equipment Reliability in Manufacturing Industries”, European Journal of Business
and Management, vol. 5: 69, 2013
[11] Klipi , Jani. “Sourcing of availability services Case aircraft component support”, The Journal of the
Operational Research Society, vol. 59: 437, 2008
[12] Van Duren ,Jeroen . “Differentiated spare parts management: an application in the aircraft industry”.
Master of Science in Operations Management and Logistics , TUE University, Eindhoven, 2011

71