In recent years, aircraft structural health monitoring technology has been developed rapidly. Up to now, this technology has been successfully verified in the laboratory experiment and flight test. In next several years, it is much possible for this technology to achieve the aviation industrial application. Aircraft structural health monitoring technology is an innovative technology, the key component of which is obtaining structure or system data information based on sensor network. Aircraft structural health monitoring technology plays a significant role in the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of aircraft, and this technology is also the key component of intelligent aviation. In addition, with the development of artificial intelligence, big data, 5G and internet of things, there has been a leap development opportunity for aircraft structural health monitoring technology. In this paper, the benefits of aircraft structural health monitoring technology were firstly analyzed. Besides, the key technology & application for aircraft structural health monitoring technology were described. Finally, an innovative aircraft health management strategy was proposed based on previous theoretical knowledge and engineering experience about structural health monitoring.