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INDUSTRY FACT FILE · AVIATION & AEROSPACE

Main Products and Services in Aviation and Aerospace

What India's airlines, airports, handlers, MRO firms and aerospace manufacturers sell and deliver, the shared platforms, airport, aircraft and engineering systems behind each service, and where those systems create cybersecurity and compliance exposure.

In this document

1. How aviation and aerospace companies earn their money

2. Products and services by organisation type

3. The operations layer: shared platforms, airport OT and aircraft systems

4. The engineering and enterprise layer: MRO, manufacturing, loyalty and cloud

5. The systems behind the products and services

6. Trends that change the attack surface

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

1. How aviation and aerospace companies earn their money

Revenue stream	How it works	Security relevance
Passenger fares and ancillaries	Tickets, seats, baggage, meals and other extras sold through sites, apps, agents and GDS	Booking platforms and payment flows; passenger data; pricing integrity
Loyalty and co-brand programmes	Miles sold to banks and partners, redemptions, status tiers	Stored value, account security, partner integrations
Aeronautical and non-aeronautical airport revenue	Landing and parking charges, passenger fees, retail, F&B, car parks, advertising	Billing systems, retail and parking platforms, passenger flow data
Ground handling, cargo and fuelling services	Per-turnaround and per-tonne services to airlines	Shared systems at the airport; customs integrations; staff access
MRO and engineering services	Line and base maintenance, engine shops, component repair	Records integrity; OEM data; parts provenance
Aerospace manufacturing and defence	Components, systems and aircraft for Indian and global programmes	Design data; export controls; OEM audits; production continuity

2. Products and services by organisation type

Organisation type	Main products and services	Key systems
Airlines	Scheduled passenger and cargo flights, ancillaries, loyalty, charters	PSS and departure control, websites and apps, crew and flight planning, loyalty, EFBs
Airport operators	Terminal and airside infrastructure, passenger processing, retail and parking	Common-use platforms, baggage systems, BMS, access control, CCTV, screening, Wi-Fi, DigiYatra
Ground handlers	Ramp, passenger, baggage, fuelling and catering services	Airline and airport systems access, handheld devices, load control, staff rostering
MRO and engineering firms	Maintenance, repair and overhaul, records and certification	Maintenance management systems, records, OEM portals, engine shop systems
Aerospace manufacturers and suppliers	Components, structures, systems and software for OEMs and defence	PLM and CAD, ERP, production OT, quality systems, OEM EDI and portals
Air cargo and express	Cargo terminal handling, freighter operations, customs clearance	Cargo management systems, ICEGATE, customs and security filing, truck docks

3. The operations layer: shared platforms, airport OT and aircraft systems

Aviation runs on platforms that many organisations share. An airline's passenger service system holds reservations and tickets; departure control and common-use check-in platforms run check-in, bag drop and boarding at every counter and kiosk; global distribution systems and messaging networks connect agents, airlines and airports. When one of these fails—as the September 2025 disruption to Collins Aerospace's MUSE software showed at Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin—every airline and airport on it falls back to manual processing at once.

Airports are also operational-technology environments. Baggage handling systems run on PLCs and sorters; building management controls air handling, lighting and power; access control and CCTV protect security-restricted areas; screening equipment, aerobridges, fuel hydrants and apron systems each have their own controllers and vendors; and public Wi-Fi, kiosks and biometric entry gates sit on the same campus networks. Many of these systems were installed with flat networks and vendor remote access, and cannot be patched or scanned without planning around live operations. Aircraft bring their own connected systems—electronic flight bags, connected cabins and maintenance data links—that depend on ground infrastructure and vendors.

4. The engineering and enterprise layer: MRO, manufacturing, loyalty and cloud

Behind operations sit the engineering and enterprise systems. MRO and engineering firms keep the maintenance records that certify airworthiness, exchange data with OEMs and run engine and component shops with their own test equipment. Aerospace manufacturers hold product lifecycle management and CAD data that is both commercially valuable and often export-controlled, alongside ERP, quality and production OT that must keep delivering to OEM schedules. Airlines and airports run loyalty platforms, contact centres, CRM, finance and HR, increasingly in the cloud and through third-party providers.

Passenger data is the thread through all of it: passports, dates of birth, contact details, travel histories, payment tokens and biometrics flow between airlines, providers, airports, handlers, immigration and customs. The 2021 SITA breach that exposed about 4.5 million Air India passengers and the 2025 Qantas contact-centre breach affecting 5.7 million customers both began at providers, not at the airline—so the data map must include every processor.

Highest-risk moments

Peak seasons when manual fallback is hardest, platform and provider migrations, new terminals and system commissioning with flat networks and default credentials, vendor remote-maintenance sessions on baggage and BMS, loyalty promotions that create stored value, outsourcing of contact centres and passenger processing, and OEM audits and certification deadlines at suppliers are where aviation incidents typically begin or escalate.

5. The systems behind the products and services

Title: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the aviation journey. - Description: Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the aviation journey.

Figure 2: Where cyber risk sits across the aviation journey.

Product / service	Systems that deliver it	Key cyber and compliance touchpoints
Booking and loyalty	Websites, apps, PSS, GDS, payment integrations, loyalty platforms	Web, app and API testing, ATO testing, PCI DSS scoping, data protection
Check-in and security	Departure control, common-use platforms, kiosks, bag drop, DigiYatra, screening	Provider assurance, fallback rehearsal, kiosk and biometric system testing
Airside and aircraft	Baggage systems, fuelling, ramp systems, flight planning, EFBs	OT assessment, segmentation, data integrity controls, device management
Airport facilities	BMS, access control, CCTV, Wi-Fi, retail and parking systems	OT and physical-security system assessments, vendor access brokering, monitoring
MRO and engineering	Maintenance records, parts systems, engine shops, OEM links	Records integrity, access reviews, backups, Part-IS readiness
Cargo and manufacturing	Cargo systems, customs filing, PLM, ERP, production OT	Credential controls, data classification, segmentation, OEM assurance

6. Trends that change the attack surface

Trend	What is changing	Security implication
Shared platforms and cloud migration	PSS, departure control and airport systems consumed as services	Concentration risk; provider assurance and fallback become core
Biometrics and seamless travel	DigiYatra and biometric boarding across airports	Biometric data protection and system integrity
Airport expansion and new terminals	Greenfield airports and terminal upgrades across the country	Security must be designed into OT and networks, not retrofitted
Connected aircraft and EFBs	Data links, connected cabins, tablet-based flight operations	Device, data and ground-infrastructure security
Aerospace manufacturing growth	Indian suppliers deeper in global OEM and defence supply chains	OEM audits, export controls, design data protection
Regulatory formalisation	CERT-In audits incl. OT, Part-IS for EU approvals, DPDP	Evidence-based assurance replaces informal practice

7. Mapping operations to Codec Networks engagements

If the organisation operates…	Recommended starting engagement
An airport, terminal or airside estate	Airport IT/OT assessment of baggage, BMS, access control, CCTV and kiosks; segmentation design
Shared check-in, PSS or provider-hosted platforms	Platform provider assurance, contracted recovery and notification, fallback rehearsal
Passenger, loyalty or contact-centre data	Data mapping across processors, DPDP programme, provider assessments
Booking, check-in or loyalty apps and APIs	App and API VAPT, ATO and business-logic testing, PCI DSS scoping
MRO, engineering or aerospace production systems	Records and design data protection, segmentation, OEM and Part-IS readiness
Operations that cannot pause	24x7 aviation SOC, backup and restore testing, crisis exercises

Talk to Codec Networks

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Email: mktg@codecnetworks.com Web: www.codecnetworks.com

Note: Descriptions are general and based on public information available as of October 2026. Systems and exposures differ by organisation and site.