Hourly Mx Specialist Broadens Business Aviation Support

JSSI—best known for its hourly cost maintenance programs—is at the Aero Friedrichshafen show promoting a group-wide service portfolio that now includes specialist software, aircraft finance, and a parts and engines division. According to the U.S.-based company, it now supports more than 6,500 aircraft worldwide, representing around 30% of the global business jet fleet.

According to Fabrice Roger, JSSI’s executive vice president for business development, there has never been a more pressing need for operators to have access to support provided independently from aircraft manufacturers. “We are providing these services in a very challenging environment with operators dealing with economic pressure from [rising costs for] fuel, maintenance and labor,” he told AIN. “Operators are usually the first to be blamed when something goes wrong; our goal is to make sure they can keep flying.”

JSSI’s support contracts give operators an alternative to the constraints of OEM-owned maintenance networks. The company also gives clients the flexibility to transfer positive reserves of cash deposited for maintenance between different aircraft types, rather than lose any unspent money, as Roger said is generally the case with manufacturer-run support packages.

“Being independent from the OEMs gives our clients more leverage,” he explained. JSSI recently restructured its engine support programs with a view to making it clearer what work is covered.

Opening Parts Bottlenecks

Ongoing production backlogs caused by stubborn supply chain bottlenecks at OEMs have meant delays in sourcing parts that have disrupted flights. Through its PartsHub platform JSSI has its own supply lines with access to around 100,000 lines of parts and more than 84 lease engines.

At the same time, inflationary pressure on maintenance costs caused by factors such as labor shortages and what JSSI says is “OEM pricing power” are battering operators’ profit and loss figures. The company argues there has never been a more pressing need for companies to lock into defined support costs.

In the face of what it says are rising interest rates, the JSSI Aviation Capital unit aims to provide a smoother path to completing aircraft transactions, providing asset-based finance on more terms it says are more advantageous than those offered by traditional banks. It recently recruited experienced financing expert Paul Sykes from a leading business aircraft OEM to be its director of origination, based in the UK.

In the software domain, JSSI said that its Traxxall business unit is gaining market share with its proprietary maintenance tracking system. “The key is that we have a multi-platform approach,” Roger explained. “We have access to data for any type of private jet.”

This part of the group also includes the Conklin & DeDecker aircraft data platform. JSSI said it expects to roll out new features and functionality later this year.

At the Aero Friedrichshafen show, JSSI—now in its 35th year—is exhibiting as part of the group pavilion run by the German Business Aviation Association. Just over 12 months ago, it appointed Jan Hascher as its new vice president of business aviation in Europe, and, at the end of 2025, it added Ozge Dertli as a new sales director for JSSI Parts & Engine.