Abstract: A method for automatically generating an optimized maintenance plan for a fleet of aircraft engines, includes the steps of: acquiring input data on a plurality of engines and providing an existing initial maintenance plan or creating an initial maintenance plan based on the acquired input data. A total maintenance effort for the fleet resulting in an application of the initial maintenance plan is then determined. Next, the engines are sorted into a defined order according to at least one criterion and at least one optimization strategy or heuristic stored as an algorithm in a computer program is applied to each of the engines in the defined order. Next, an optimized maintenance plan for the engines or output data comprising an estimated total maintenance effort of the optimized maintenance plan is output.