CNN New Day July 30, 2015 11:07:00
Time ago the timeline is 24 to 48 hours before they get confirmation. >> a lot of people say planes actually go flying on the amount of paper that back them up. and the importance of the serial numbers is not only to track the parts but to track the maintenance. and it is required by law in all developed aviation nations that you track the parts and the maintenance numbers on those parts. so the part number also can be traced to boeing but they can also be traced back to the airline. so that's what they were referring to as the maintenance number and should be in the maintenance logbooks kept ...
Source: archive.org