3 Reasons to Reconsider Before Saying ‘No’ to a Maintenance Service Plan

For more than forty years, Honeywell has offered aftermarket maintenance service plans that give operators peace of mind and help them protect their sizeable investments in avionics, propulsion engines, auxiliary power units and mechanical components.

Our current Maintenance Service Plan (MSP) brings our entire family of maintenance agreements (MSP/MPP/HAPP/MSA/ MCA/ MCG/ PBC/ CPAL/ MCPAL/ FR/ NTE) together and gives operators a wide range of flexible, customizable maintenance options. The MSP program makes it easy and affordable to control the unexpected, manage the annual maintenance budget and keep aircraft where they belong – in the sky – by minimizing downtime and streamlining the repair process. Best of all, MSP was created by Honeywell, the original equipment manufacturer, who knows the covered products better than anyone.

So how does the program work? Honeywell’s signature MSP is like the extended warranties available on a home, car or major appliance. Business aircraft operators simply choose the coverage that best meets their needs, pay an annual usage-based fee and stop worrying about the devastating impact an unplanned equipment failure can have on their operations and the maintenance budget.

While we know that enrolling in MSP coverage is the best option, some operators may need to understand more about the program to make an educated decision. Here are the top 3 responses we hear from potential customers, and why you may want to re-consider before saying no to coverage:

1. I don’t believe in extended warranties. There are some operators that choose the pay as you go method when it comes to maintenance, but this is unreliable and can become unmanageable. Unexpected failures happen and the cost of parts and labor can mount up quickly. Many times, we have seen customers spend as much as six figures replacing one component when they could have covered the cost of the cockpit or whole system at a fraction of the single replacement or repair. Imagine the effect on your maintenance budget if you incurred multiple failures in the same year.
2. I don’t have many equipment failures. While it’s true that today’s equipment is more reliable than ever, it’s also more complex. When things do go wrong repair costs and downtime can have a bigger-than-ever impact on the bottom line. As with any maintenance service plan, the proof is in the numbers. Operators should evaluate the exchanges that have taken place over the last three years, and compare the costs of those exchanges versus the cost of the annual MSP fee. Not surprisingly, usage varies year-to-year, but regardless of whether customers use their MSP program a lot or just a little in a given year, they still come out ahead because they don’t have to worry about unbudgeted repairs and can have peace of mind in knowing they are covered if a failure occurs.
3. I can’t afford a maintenance service plan. Putting together an annual maintenance budget is a challenging task because the maintenance team doesn’t have perfect insight on what may break tomorrow, much less 10 months down the road. Most of the time, the team ends up putting in a guesstimate based on past experiences and intuition. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. The Honeywell MSP program uses fixed pricing based on important facts such as flying hours and engine use so the director of maintenance can put a “real” number in the budget line and know they have the situation covered. This is critical to accurate budget planning given the high cost of parts and labor. Unplanned failures and unexpected expenses can blow your entire budget.

Still not convinced a Honeywell Maintenance Service Plan is right for you? Don’t take our word for it – Hear from some of our customers how the program has helped them control costs and keep their plane flying!

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