From Jet Engines to Runways: Airport Maintenance Management at Manchester Airports Group

James Ayre, Asset Management Director at Manchester Airports Group (MAG), joins the Comparesoft Maintenance Management Podcast to unpack what airport maintenance management really involves at the UK's largest dedicated cargo hub, East Midlands Airport. After 20 years at Rolls-Royce, from engineering apprentice to global maintenance executive, James now oversees more than 220,000 assets across Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands. In this episode, James talks about: What airport maintenance management looks like across a group managing over 220,000 assets The move from reactive repair to proactive, condition-based maintenance The leading and lagging KPIs he tracks, and why he brought OEE from Rolls-Royce How his team uses IBM Maximo and Maximo Monitor, and why clean data comes first Where AI genuinely fits into maintenance today, as a multiplier rather than a replacement Building a digital twin of the airfield to see failures below the surface Outsourced facilities management, team culture and having hard conversations Making the business case to the board: maintenance as value protection, not cost Comparesoft: 👉 https://comparesoft.com/cmms-software/podcasts/Airport-Maintenance-Management/