2012 was an interesting year in aviation and aerospace. Soaring fuel prices threatened the stability of the airline industry as well as the MRO service companies that support it.  The FAA officially entered the debate over accessibility of instructions for continued airworthiness (ICA) while some aviation OEMs continued to push for restricting access to service and parts information.

Airlines increasingly started looking to MRO IT systems to fully automate their Engineering & Maintenance (E&M) systems so they could leverage highly important maintenance and repair information as a service asset. And tablets, the ultimate symbol of mobility, dominated discussions at nearly every aviation service event, leaving many wondering how mobility will impact the future of aviation maintenance repair and overhaul.

Enigma followed the aviation and aerospace maintenance and repair stories throughout the year, giving our take on topics we feel are important to the industries and customers we serve. The following articles are our most popular MRO-related blog posts of the year. We hope you enjoy the sampling of posts and encourage you to share your opinions, whether you agree or disagree, in the comments.

We’re looking forward in 2013 to seeing how this year’s issues unfold and what new trends and topics emerge.

1. Boeing Plans to Exploit Maintenance Data – More Bad News for Airlines?
2. OEMs Driving Up Aircraft Maintenance Costs – What Will They Say at MRO Americas?
3. Safety Held Hostage? – FAA Enters the Debate
4. SAP User Group (SUGAIR) Dives into S1000D, PDF and Tablets
5. OEM Information Policies Increase Costs at FedEx (and Create a Tornado of Complaints at MRO Americas 2012)
6. Clouding the Issue of PLM's Role in MRO and Social Media
7. Is Social Media Relevant in Service and Maintenance Operations?
8. The Ultimate MRO IT System (as defined by Aircraft Commerce)
9. Talking Up Tablets But Standards Are the Sticking Point – Report from ATA E-Business Forum
10. Korean Airlines Leverages Its Greatest Asset: Information – with Help from Oracle and Enigma