A growing MRO provider in Southern Illinois is preparing to double its size and release a blockchain-driven software product that it hopes will disrupt the industry.
Based at Southern Illinois Airport, Crucial MRO has grown its business significantly in the last two years. The company was established as an off-site component repair station in 2002 before moving to an 80,000 ft.2 hangar complex at the airport in 2022. The new location was key to an expanded portfolio of MRO services for regional and narrowbody aircraft, including heavy checks, base maintenance, modification, aircraft teardown, interiors and component repairs. It currently operates four lines of heavy maintenance. VP Wesley Perkins says Crucial MRO has completed heavy checks for 55 aircraft in the last two years, with regional carriers Contour Airlines and R1 Airlines among its customers.
Later this year, Crucial MRO plans to begin an expansion project that will add two more hangars for another 80,000 ft.2 of space, as well as a 30,000 ft.2 back shop. Perkins says the company is in final talks “on everything from airport lease to contractors’ bids” and hoping to finish the expansion by the end of 2025.
Crucial MRO has around 80 employees. Perkins says it staffs for what it needs, but that the expansion “could easily double” its staff. The company works with Southern Illinois University’s (SIU) aviation technologies program to help with the workforce pipeline. Students can work at the company part time before being offered a full-time position upon graduation.
“Our main workforce today has several SIU graduates, and we do anything we can to retain our student help once they have tested out,” says Perkins. “Our door is wide open to any student over at SIU, and when they do graduate, they have a resume with commercial aircraft experience.”
Meanwhile, Crucial MRO announced at Aviation Week’s recent MRO Americas event that it was partnering with aviation industry data management software provider Aeroplicity to produce a cloud-based suite of applications for MRO management. Perkins says the partnership was conceived after Crucial MRO was unable to find affordable software that was easy to use and had necessary security features that will be required in upcoming compliance rule changes.
“After trying several different companies, it was clear there was nothing in the market that met Crucial’s ‘easy-to-use’ expectations, not to mention the ridiculous start-up and operating costs,” says Perkins. “[Aeroplicity’s] team sees and understands the need for easy-to-use software, a non-predatory pricing model and a one-stop shop for everything an operating MRO needs.”
Powered by blockchain, the Aeroplicity software will control all aspects of MRO operations for companies of all sizes and its cloud-based applications will be able to run on any device with an internet connection. Perkins says the goal is to provide a cost-effective, modern software option to the MRO industry.
“The industry is hungry for a new product and Aeroplicity checks all the boxes where all the legacy software doesn’t,” says Perkins. “I am confident our partnership will turn a lot of heads very soon and disrupt the aircraft software industry in a good way.”
