Bleak readings on consumer sentiment in recent months along with recessionary fears serve as a critical reminder that if there’s one thing that is certain in business – it’s uncertainty. The buzz during the past few months is that we are heading into a recession with a correction in the labor market that’s spun out of control due to pandemic-era labor shortages.
That said, since 2020, our growing MRO, Thrust Tech Accessories (TTA), a FAA/EASA Certified 145 Repair Station located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has made some moves that we believe offer reasonable levels of business protection for any impending recession. Certainly, our healthy financial performance even before the dark days of 2020-2021 has been important, as we entered that pandemic period in a strong position. That put us in good stead for investing in the growth of our MRO business.
Similarly, I believe good performance and growth this year will help us exceed what we did in the past. So, we’re in good shape entering the last half of 2022.
To achieve this growth – bolstering our revenue and profitability – we focused on these three prime tasks.
Recruit More Team Members
First, we built our employee team, hiring many more skilled technicians, IT specialists, aircraft engineers, and so on. Bottom line? We didn’t lay off employees. We did exactly the opposite – hired additional skilled employees.
Soon after the pandemic hit, I know many businesses had to cut back or halt production for a period while others were forced to lay off workers. I empathize and realize each company’s resources and business models are different. But for TTA, I’m glad that we didn’t have to take that step.
What’s happened since, there has been an increased demand for MRO services and service personnel. This has led to increase labor cost and competition among the industry; however, as we see more and more flights cancellations and delays, this will negatively impact the confidence of the flying public and consequently lead to a reversal or some of the higher and costly increase in labor over the past year.
Granted, we’ve taken on much more business – something we couldn’t have done without the added staff and expertise they bring, which is a good thing. But frankly the pay scale in our industry has gotten so completely out of control that it is simply unsustainable long term, especially now at the precipice of an economic downturn. At some point, the market will correct itself as the economy settles some. But meanwhile, we will have to look closely at this segment of the company’s overall costs.
Significantly Increased Parts Inventory
All in all, going into the last half of 2022, we are confident our portfolio of worldwide customers will continue to grow. One other area we’ve focused on is our investment in increasing our parts inventory, even at the start of the pandemic. The reality is, having high-demand parts on hand is critical to our ability not only to serve existing customers more efficiently but also to garner new clients. Having parts in stock allows us to reduce turnaround time (TAT) and increase deliveries.
That’s also built client loyalty and delivered many new customers to us – again helping our revenue soar both last year and this year. In addition, we’ve also invested in marketing, in building our online and public relations presence. These steps individually all have some value, but together have made a huge difference.
In other words, we’ve never stopped pushing forward. The status quo was never something we accepted, even during the darker days. Growth was our goal and still is.
Created Innovative Solutions, Expanded Capabilities
During the pandemic, we also utilized any down time to create innovative solutions. We’ve developed several new DER solutions to assist regional airline, business aircraft, and private jet owners. And having more employees has continue to allow us to seek FAA approvals for expanded capabilities.
Recently, for example, TTA received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support overhaul requirements for the motors needed on stabilizer actuators for Learjet airframes. With ever-changing support needs within the market and the increasing importance of private and corporate jet operations in the aviation arena over the past few years, this approval allowed us to assist Bombardier Learjet owners and operators.
The reality is that many clients are retaining and extending the service life of their aircraft in commercial, private or business fleets or for their personal use longer than might typically have been the case pre-pandemic. So, we’re discovering that our expanded services are a huge opportunity to continue to build our sales as clients work to keep their planes and rotorcraft in tip-top airworthy condition.
We’ve also acquired new equipment and tapped into the latest technology to help speed up certain processes and improve efficiency. For instance, when needing to do high precision and metallurgical analysis of the integrity and make-up of particular aircraft parts, we previously had to send out parts to subcontractors to conduct this service. Then we’d wait four to six weeks for results.
But in early 2022, purchased the necessary high-tech equipment’s to perform these functions internally significantly reducing the TAT to bring a new part to market. So, we save clients time, plus it saves the company both time and money which has is drawing new customers.
Parting Thoughts
So, no matter how severe the looming economic downturn is, we feel confident that TTA is in a good position to weather the storm, based on the proactive steps we’ve taken over the past three years. One fact is certain. Whatever the market conditions are, our skilled technicians and MRO experts will be here to assist you with cost-effective, time-sensitive solutions for your aircraft maintenance and repair needs.
