Aviation business owners have been hunting for better ways to maintain, upgrade, and optimize their aircraft for as long as aviation has been an industry. For decades, slow, steady advances have been made, and with the advent of powerful new AI technologies, aviation maintenance businesses are poised to make a giant leap forward. If they decide to power their businesses with the right platform.
AI automation has rapidly become a standard tool for industries of every type around the world, and aircraft maintenance is no different. The emerging field of AI automation can have highly beneficial effects for aviation businesses if you are ready to embrace them.
What is Automation for Aircraft Maintenance Businesses?
Automation in this context refers to using software programs to complete tasks and processes previously accomplished by employees, with no human intervention required. This is done through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) trained specifically to solve problems and complete tasks required, and deployed as tools in advanced systems, usually Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms. These tasks are typically repetitive and time-consuming projects like data gathering and entry or record matching, the type of grunt work that has to be done, feeling like a slog for employees who would rather spend their time and effort on other, more rewarding parts of their job.
This automation saves workers from the repetitive drudgery of mundane tasks and also increases the efficiency and accuracy of task completion by increasing completion speed and removing the risk of human errors being introduced into the system. AI automation for aviation maintenance is not a replacement for human workers, rather a tool that workers can use to free themselves up for more pressing issues.
What Projects Can Automation Assist With?
Leading aircraft maintenance organizations have already begun to embrace automation across a wide variety of processes, with dazzling results. According to an article in the Q1 2025 Aviation Maintenance magazine, businesses have begun using AI automation for tasks such as repair orders, filling in details about aircraft and parts, drastically reducing the amount of time it takes to create and check repair orders. Other businesses in the field have used automation as part of their procurement process, using AI to compare prices, lead times, and total costs of orders to deliver the most cost-effective choice each time without having to tie up employees gathering and comparing data from each potential source.
Transferring data from task cards is also made easy with AI, with one leading business reporting a ninety percent reduction in the time it takes to upload information thanks to automation. Rather than an employee having to manually transcribe the task cards line by line, the AI tools quickly pull the information into the system directly from the web form.
AI automation can also be used on the administrative end, streamlining processes such as scheduling or payroll generation, performing the necessary accuracy checks that would typically require a member of the team. As AI tools continue to develop and become more powerful, every corner of a business will stand to benefit from the ability to automate tasks, so long as the business is set up to accommodate these tools.
The Right Platform for AI Automation Success
Not all ERP platforms are created equal, and when it comes to advanced AI automation tools, this is clear. While many, if not all, modern ERP platforms will offer some form of automation, few will compare to the powerful slate of tools offered by industry-leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. BC offers Microsoft CoPilot, an intuitive, expansive tool that can help aviation businesses streamline their processes.
Unlike some AI options on other platforms, CoPilot does not need extensive training on a businesses’ existing systems to function, instead drawing on Microsoft’s extensive programming, meaning that CoPilot is usable immediately after upgrading to BC, allowing for the ROI to begin rolling in sooner. CoPilot also has the advantage of operating with “natural language”, meaning there is no need for users to learn specialized jargon, opening the benefits of AI up to the entirety of a business, not exclusively specific, technical staff.
With CoPilot, users can automate workflows on maintenance work orders, sales orders or invoices, and even forecast parts and goods availability for improved ordering. On top of that, CoPilot offers assists across other, non-industry-specific departments such as customer service, financial reconciliation, and even marketing, making BC the platform of choice for aviation maintenance businesses looking to fully embrace the power of AI and position themselves to be leaders in the space for years to come.
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