Airbus has rolled out the first A320 fitted with sharklets. The aircraft, MSN5098, is one of seven line-fitted with the wingtips that are to be used in the flight-test campaign that is targeted to last 600 hr. The manufacturer, which has already performed initial testing using A320s retrofitted with sharklets, expects the devices to reduce fuel burn by up to 3.5%. The first sharklet-fitted aircraft to enter revenue service is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2012.

JetBlue Airways is “aggressively scouring all other service providers on a part-by-part basis” to find flight hour maintenance agreements as favorable as the ones it had with Aveos Fleet Performance, which abruptly ceased its Canadian operations in March because of financial problems.

Safran and Airbus have completed the first demonstration flight of a composite engine plug for potential use on the Leap-X turbofan. The ceramic matrix composite plug, first flown on a CFM56 on Airbus’s MSN A320 test aircraft on Feb. 27, is aimed at reducing the weight of the component compared with a metallic plug. The technology is due to undergo endurance testing on an Air France A320, where it is scheduled to log up to 5,000 flight hours in commercial service, according to Safran.

Maintenance outsourcing plays an increasingly important role in the business model of airlines around the world. Cathay Pacific Airways has a unique perspective on outsourcing, having taken the concept further than almost any other carrier. Cathay's Engineering Director Christopher Gibbs talks to Aviation Week's Adrian Schofield about the challenges and benefits of an outsourced maintenance model and Cathay's relationship with long-time MRO provider, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. (Haeco).

If Air Canada and American Airlines outsource their airframe maintenance, where will it go? Which MROs have capacity? This subject, as well as what really happened at Aveos Fleet Performance, was the focus of many conversations during the MRO Americas Conference & Exhibition in Dallas in early April. Both carriers appear to be in the initial stages of exploring third-party MRO market capabilities and capacity.

Maintenance providers have always been forced to adapt when airline fleets and operating models go through a transition phase. The Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. (Haeco) is no exception, and is responding to the latest airline evolution by broadening its capabilities and looking for new ways to partner with customers.

The hangars are flooded with seawater. Under the water, hundreds of tons of muck washed in by the tsunami cover the floor. All the equipment kept at ground level—which, at aircraft maintenance, is just about all of it—is ruined, some of it swept away. The customers' aircraft are floating about in the hangars and, with one remarkable exception, all wrecked. The buildings have just been thrown about by one of the most powerful earthquakes in recent history. The runway is submerged and, for all anyone knows, may have been smashed up by the earthquake. There is no power.

AAR Corp., which has been looking for a way to expand its airline maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity for a year, is close to securing a former Northwest Airlines hangar in Duluth, Minn. It signed a letter of intent with the city of Duluth to lease 152,000 sq. ft. of the available 188,000-sq.-ft. facility that was built in 1996.