Commercial aviation maintenance safety under competitive pressure: a sociotechnical review of compliance, outsourcing, culture, and digitalization

Abstract

Commercial aviation maintenance operates at the intersection of regulatory compliance, cost control, aircraft availability, human performance, and rapidly changing technology. This literature review synthesizes established aviation safety and maintenance research through Sociotechnical Systems Theory across five recurring domains: compliance and oversight, outsourcing and distributed maintenance, safety culture and human factors, predictive and digital maintenance technologies, and competition and organizational resilience. The literature does not support a simple conclusion that competitive pressure necessarily reduces safety; rather, risk becomes more plausible when production demands interact with weak reporting climates, fragmented accountability, inadequate staffing, poor documentation, limited regulatory visibility, or technologies that are poorly integrated into work. For example, an airline may gain efficiency from a digital maintenance system, but the benefit is diminished if a late-night alert reaches a short-staffed crew without clear authority to extend the maintenance window. Conversely, disciplined Safety Management Systems, just-culture practices, integrated oversight, robust training, and well-governed digital tools can convert efficiency initiatives into stronger reliability. The synthesis therefore identifies a persistent research gap in the lived experiences of mechanics and inspectors who reconcile regulatory intent with operational constraints and argues that future research should examine the points where cost, authority, information, and professional judgment meet in daily maintenance practice.