These Crystal Cabin Award finalists made waves at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg for innovations that enhance passenger experience. Here is a sampling. 1. Silver Lining

STS Component Solutions opened a new U.K. office to develop business in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Jet Support Services (JSSI) has opened a new Middle East office located near the Dubai International Airport in the Airport Freezone and has appointed William Khouri as its new technical advisor to assist with the company's growth in this region.

Air Canada will consider an international maintenance, repair and overhaul provider as a permanent replacement for Aveos Fleet Performance.

Republic Airways Holdings says it needs to attain $40-60 million in annual cost savings and productivity improvements at its Chautauqua Airlines subsidiary to make its 50-seat regional jet (RJ) operations profitable.

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.