On February 26, 2024, StarFlyer and MRO Japan announced that the latter would be providing the former with end-of-lease maintenance services between 2024 and 2026. MRO Japan is the only MRO services provider in Japan capable of doing so.
MRO Japan is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANA that launched operations in 2015. At the beginning of 2019, it moved all of its operations to a new hangar capable of housing up to five aircraft at Naha Airport in Okinawa. In addition to being able to provide MRO services based on Japanese standards, in 2022, the company also became the first and so far only MRO provider in Japan to obtain EASA certification.
The certification is key in MRO Japan being able to provide end-of-lease maintenance services as generally lessors require operators to return their aircraft to a state meeting either the US (FAA) or European (EASA) standards before returning them at the end of their typically eight- or twelve-year lease terms.
Because of the lack of such capability domestically, until now, airlines outsourced end-of-lease maintenance to providers outside Japan. StarFlyer is the first airline to instead have the required maintenance done in Japan going forward. MRO Japan will also provide StarFlyer with heavy maintenance service done two years before an aircraft is returned to a lessor.