MRO Industry Urged to Abandon Paper Records as AI-Powered Digital Systems Gain Ground
Why It MattersThe push toward AI-driven digitalisation signals a structural shift in MRO operations, favoring providers that centralize data and automate compliance over paper-based competitors.
Many maintenance, repair, and overhaul operators continue to rely on paper task cards and non-digital processes despite accelerating digital transformation across the wider aviation industry, according to an industry analysis published in September 2026. Paper-based record-keeping, including logbooks, inspection reports, and compliance documents, creates operational risks: physical records can be misplaced, handwriting can be misread, and retrieval during audits can require technicians to search through years of archived paperwork. As the sector grows more data-intensive, organisations that depend on manual processes face difficulty supporting predictive maintenance strategies or automated compliance checks.
MROs and repair shops are increasingly turning to specialised aviation enterprise resource planning software and AI-powered solutions to address these shortcomings. Lufthansa Technik Budapest automated portions of its compliance management through the denxpert system, reducing by 90% the effort required to track regulatory changes. AI tools are being used to tag and index aircraft data and records, making them structured, easily retrievable, and machine-interpretable, which proponents say allows engineering teams to concentrate on hands-on repair rather than administrative tasks. Jason Huang, quoted in the analysis, noted that AI can handle searching, sorting, and processing information, freeing engineers to apply technical expertise where it is most needed.
Effective digitalisation requires more than converting paper to electronic files, the analysis cautions, citing challenges including achieving widespread implementation, training personnel, and integrating new tools with AI platforms. Organisations are advised to focus on centralising data and automating processes as a cohesive strategy rather than treating digitalisation as a one-time project. The transition from paper to a digital, AI-ready maintenance ecosystem is described as a continuous, multi-phase evolution, with the analysis concluding that the core question for MROs is no longer whether to adopt digital and AI solutions, but how quickly they can do so.
