Predictive maintenance technique basing on real-time acquisition, transmission and analysis of aircraft data has been a trend in aviation industry. Starting from the technical connotation and systematic function of aircraft maintenance, combining with the research hotspots obtaining from journal articles and patents in this field, we systematically describe the developing status and tendency of predictive aircraft maintenance techniques. Then we sort out the application of new generation of information techniques such as AI, automatic maintenance, autonomous drone, robot, and intelligent supply chain. Finally, basing on the generalization of technical framework and key techniques, we proposed several strategic suggestions for domestic development and localization of predictive aircraft maintenance techniques.