This article is by Vicki Joslin, Deputy Head of Claims, Tokio Marine Kiln
It’s 5am, the phone rings. An aviation loss has occurred. The broker is on the other end, carefully laying out the details. We listen, empathise, and talk through what has happened and next steps. An action plan is set in motion to understand the circumstances, assess the potential loss/damage, and get the right experts involved. And soon enough, our aviation experts are at the scene.
When a loss lands
Those first moments when a loss lands are crucial to what happens next. In my team, we have two main priorities in that moment: be immediately contactable for the broker, and get aviation experts on the ground, whether loss adjusters or legal experts. We cannot physically be at every incident worldwide, so these experts become integral to the loss outcome and a core part of the claims team itself, ensuring availability and speed, but above all, quality and care of handling.
In those moments, brokers and clients rarely want a policy wording explained back to them. They want to know who is helping, what happens next, and how quickly the right experts can be mobilised.
That response is worth more now than at any point in my career. Aviation claims are becoming more complex, involving more stakeholders, technical assessments, and commercial pressures, just as the wider industry is looking to automate more of the claims process.
More sophisticated fleets
Over the last twenty years at TMK, I’ve seen aircraft, repair processes and claims handling become significantly more complex. Modern airframes use expensive materials that can extend repair timelines and keep aircraft out of service for much longer.
Take a relatively minor incident involving a modern composite aircraft. What might once have required a straightforward metal repair costing in the region of USD200,000 can now involve specialist inspection, manufacturer input, highly skilled repair facilities, and parts sourced through increasingly stretched supply chains. In some cases, repair costs can increase tenfold, reaching USD2 million once engineering, logistics, and downtime-related costs are considered. The result is that a loss which appears routine at first glance can have significant operational and financial consequences.
These challenges are being compounded by wider supply-chain pressures across the aviation sector. IATA reports that aircraft delivery delays and supply-chain constraints have contributed to a record backlog of approximately 17,000 aircraft and are expected to cost airlines billions of dollars through higher maintenance costs and operational disruption. In that environment, sourcing parts, securing repair capacity, and returning aircraft to service can be as significant a challenge as assessing the damage itself.
At TMK, we estimate that approximately 45% of hull claims arise from ground handling events. Many of these incidents occur during towing, pushback operations, loading activities, or maintenance events which can be costly, involving multiple parties and making questions of responsibility and recovery far from straightforward. There has also been an increase in ground incidents in recent years often linked to staff turnover and training gaps.
The significant increase in the number of parties involved in complex claims is being driven by a more litigious environment in some parts of the world, alongside increasingly fragmented manufacturing and supply chains. As a result, a claim that was once routine can continue for months or years. In many cases, the challenge is no longer simply repairing damage but coordinating multiple stakeholders with different priorities and technical perspectives.
Every day an aircraft remains grounded has financial consequences for an operator. Flights may need to be cancelled or rescheduled, replacement aircraft sourced and passengers accommodated. When an aircraft is out of revenue service, the speed and quality of the claims decision-making can have a significant impact on the overall cost of a loss.
Taken together, these factors mean that aviation claims that may have been resolved within a year can now remain active for 12 to 24 months after the loss.
Technology in claims
AI can improve day-to-day efficiency in the claims environment, and we should embrace it where it can add value.
Where this is put into practice, automation can take a lot of time out of parts of the process. Digital first notification of loss and automated document handling can remove delays at the point a claim is reported. Damage imagery, including photographic and drone surveys, means an initial assessment can begin before an adjuster reaches the scene. Not only this, but the use of shared portals can give brokers real-time visibility of where a claim sits, with data tools increasingly being used to track the availability and repair capacity of parts, which are often two of the biggest constraints in getting an aircraft back in the air. Used well, these tools can shorten timelines and reduce friction, but, technology in aviation claims cannot replace the human.
Consider a situation where an airline’s engineers, repair specialists, and loss adjusters all have different views on the most appropriate repair strategy. The challenge is making informed decisions, balancing competing perspectives and finding a path forward that protects safety, minimises downtime, and controls costs.
No system can automate the judgement needed in that room.
In a specialty market like aviation, technology can support decisions, but no algorithm can yet replace the technical expertise, negotiation, and judgement required throughout a claim’s lifecycle.
The claims handler must provide technical expertise and stay involved throughout the claim. When our brokers tell us what they value, it is the quality and care of handling that’s often the differentiator. Because a claim is not just a transaction to be processed, but a relationship, and one that sometimes lasts many years.
The team the market will need
The people handling complex aviation claims now matter more than ever. Kindness without expertise is not enough and expertise without empathy reduces a claim to just a transaction. The best claims teams bring both. The quality of our response and communication only matters if it’s backed by deep knowledge of that specific class.
Adaptability is also key in a claims team. Just as important is developing the next generation of aviation claims professionals. Technical expertise takes years to build, often requiring exposure to complex losses, engineering issues and multi-party negotiations. As claims become more sophisticated, attracting and retaining talented people will be as important as adopting new technology.
As the market changes, having people with skill and initiative sustains a claims team that looks towards the future. Claims teams are often among the first to spot emerging trends. Repeated ground handling incidents, rising repair costs for specific aircraft types, and delays in obtaining replacement parts are themes that the claims teams can often identify early. In that sense, claims is not simply a response function; it is a source of market trends and insights.
There at every step
Claims is an integral part of the whole aviation insurance cycle. Insurance is there to put an aircraft back in the air and an operator back into revenue service as quickly and safely as possible.
But behind every aviation loss are people. It may be an airline trying to maintain its schedule, engineers working to return an aircraft to service, or operational teams managing disruption and uncertainty. While the aircraft is often the visible focus of a claim, supporting the people responsible for getting operations back on track is just as important.
Technology will continue to transform claims handling, and rightly so. As aviation claims become more technically complex, the value of human expertise increases. The most important claims outcomes still depend on experienced people making sound decisions.
I don’t doubt that after everything, what the client will remember is who picked up the phone and who was present at every stage of their loss.
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