NASA has selected eight student teams as finalists in the 2026 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition, giving them the resources to help address a critical challenge for U.S. aviation: maintenance.
Challenges facing the commercial aviation industry include a shortage of qualified maintenance workers and increasing demands to keep complicated aircraft running for longer. With Gateways to Blue Skies, NASA taps into student innovation to address some of the biggest topics in aviation, and the current competition, RepAir: Advancing Aircraft Maintenance, is looking for solutions that can have immediate impact.
“Through this competition, students will learn about aviation maintenance and be empowered to change its future,” said Steven Holz, associate project manager for NASA’s University Innovation Project and judging panel co-chair for Gateways to Blue Skies. “By grounding innovative ideas in real operational needs and presenting them to NASA and industry experts, these teams demonstrate the kind of critical thinking, collaboration, and forward-looking problem solving that will shape a safer, more efficient aviation industry in the near future.”
This competition challenged teams of postsecondary students to conceptualize innovative systems and practices that could advance current commercial aircraft maintenance and repair operations. It addresses dual goals for NASA: supporting innovative research and also stimulating the potential aviation workforce of tomorrow.
The goal for RepAir: Advancing Aircraft Maintenance is to generate concepts to improve efficiency, safety, and costs for the aviation maintenance industry by 2035. That timeline differs from many NASA research competitions focused on long-term future …
