Qantas Engineering maintains, repairs and overhauls aircraft, engines and components across the Qantas fleet, using IFS as its primary record-keeping and certification tool.
In aviation, the record is as much a part of the aircraft as the hardware. Qantas Engineering maintains, repairs, and overhauls aircraft, engines, and components across the Qantas fleet, and it uses IFS as its primary tool for record-keeping and certification fleet-wide. Almost twenty years on, the partnership continues to deliver better data integrity, stronger compliance, and far easier record gathering when an aircraft comes up for lease return.
Share
Qantas Engineering sits inside one of the world's most recognizable airlines, providing maintenance, repair, and overhaul services across the Qantas fleet. Its remit is broad: not only aircraft, but engine and component maintenance as well. Work of that scope depends on records that are complete, accurate and instantly defensible.
Three pressures arrived at once. The airline was preparing for the arrival of its A380 aircraft, introducing a new fleet type that was both large and complex. At the same time, the regulator was carrying out a complete overhaul of the regulations, with a sharper focus on compliance and safety. And underneath both, the existing legacy system was aging.
For Darren Pavey, Manager, EOC Business Technology & Improvement, in the maintenance operations division, the stakes were clear. "With the large complex aircraft and trying to maintain compliance and records, software is an absolutely essential part of aircraft maintenance and record keeping." Those three pressures, arriving together, sent the team looking for a new system.
Qantas Engineering reviewed a range of maintenance software products on the market before selecting IFS. The team was looking for a solution that was strong on compliance, relatively easy to use, and capable of keeping pace with the complexity of the aircraft fleets it was preparing to bring into service. IFS provided that.
Qantas Engineering provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services across the Qantas fleet. The scope extends well beyond the airframe: the division also carries out engine and component maintenance, keeping the airline's operation supplied with serviceable, certified hardware.
That combination of aircraft, engine and component work makes Qantas Engineering a large and varied operation. Every task performed has to be captured, certified and retained, because in aviation the record is as much a part of the asset as the hardware itself.
The move to a new system was not driven by a single event. The airline was preparing for the arrival of its A380 aircraft, a new fleet type that was large and complex to maintain. In parallel, the regulator was undertaking a complete overhaul of the regulations, with compliance and safety at the center of the change. And the legacy system that had carried the division to that point was aging.
Together, those three elements led Qantas Engineering to begin looking for a new solution. With large, complex aircraft and the obligation to maintain compliance and records, software is an absolutely essential part of aircraft maintenance and record-keeping — not a supporting tool, but part of how the airline stays airworthy.
Qantas Engineering assessed a range of software products available on the market. "We were looking for something that was strong on compliance, and that was capable of handling the complex aircraft that we were looking to purchase," Darren said, "and IFS software provided that."
Today, IFS Maintenix is the primary tool Qantas Engineering uses for record-keeping and certification across the fleet.
The most immediate change has been in the data itself. Darren explained, "We've got better data integrity now with better data quality and visibility of that data, which is helping us make better decisions."
When maintenance records are trustworthy and available, questions that once required investigation can be answered directly. Improved data integrity and availability sit underneath every other benefit the division has seen.
"We've seen an uptick in our compliance across our aircraft fleet," according to Darren — an outcome that matters all the more given the regulatory overhaul that helped prompt the change in the first place.
The division has also seen a significant improvement in gathering records together for a lease return or the disposal of an aircraft. These are moments when the completeness of an aircraft's history is tested end to end, and where incomplete records carry real commercial consequences. Being able to assemble that history reliably has made those transitions markedly easier.
"Working with IFS as a partner has been a collaborative experience," Darren remarked. The relationship between Qantas Engineering and IFS has now run for close to two decades.
As the fleet continues to evolve, the division looks forward to continuing that relationship, with maintenance software remaining an essential part of how Qantas Engineering keeps its aircraft compliant, certified and in service.
See how other aerospace and defense organizations work with IFS to keep complex assets compliant, certified and in service.
