A lawsuit filed by US fractional ownership company Flexjet against aerospace giant Honeywell could see the operator awarded up to $1.1bn (£870m) in damages if it wins its case, highlighting long-standing challenges within the business aviation maintenance sector.
The dispute, lodged in 2023, centres on a 2019 Mechanical Services Agreement (MSA) under which Honeywell was responsible for servicing and maintaining engines fitted to several of Flexjet’s aircraft types.
According to court filings, around 60% of Flexjet’s 271-strong fleet were powered by Honeywell’s HTF engines as of early 2023.
Flexjet claims that repeated delays in engine repairs — in some cases exceeding the contractually permitted turnaround times of between four and 30 days — breached the terms of the agreement.
Under the MSA, each delayed engine could incur penalties of $30,000 per day in liquidated damages.
The case sheds light on wider pressures within the business aviation industry, which was already struggling with supply chain fragility and workforce shortages well before the Covid-19 pandemic drove a surge in demand.
Even prior to 2020, manufacturers and maintenance providers had been operating in a stagnant market following the 2008 global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, high-usage charter and fractional fleets were becoming increasingly central to the sector, accounting for 48.5% of all business jet flight hours in 2019, up from 43.5% a decade earlier.
By 2024, charter and fractional operators were responsible for more than half of all business aviation activity, according to ARGUS data.
The higher utilisation of these aircraft has accelerated wear and tear, increasing demand for engine overhauls and spare parts.
A 2018 Honeywell service bulletin addressing defective #4 bearings is cited in the lawsuit as having contributed to widespread component shortages and delayed rebuilds across several engine types in the years before the pandemic.
Recruitment challenges in skilled trades have compounded the issue, with the industry struggling to attract new technicians amid ongoing public scrutiny of private jet travel.
For an industry where rapid turnarounds and reliability are paramount, the Flexjet-Honeywell dispute underscores how maintenance bottlenecks — and contractual penalties — can have multimillion-dollar consequences.