Aviation Summit panel considers aluminium aircraft recycling more convenient due to better second market opportunities

During this year's Global Sustainable Aviation Summit in Geneva on 3-4 October, participants in a panel on aircraft recycling highlighted the potential need for more decommissioning or recycling facilities to handle rising retirements of aircrafts.

Tim Zemanovic, president of US recycling plant Jet Yard, forecast that 12,000 retired airliners need to be recycled over the next 20 years.

"It's been averaging 400-600 aircraft a year for the last several years," he says adding that the annual value of the teardown business stands at $80 million.

According to him, there is sufficient recycling capacity to cope with the growing numbers of retired aircraft. Another panellist Pierre Bonnichon, business development manager at Tarmac Aerosave however feels otherwise.

"I think for storage purposes you will find space, but when it comes down to the decommissioning process and achieving the best recycling rates, there might be a shortfall at some stage,” warns Bonnichon.

Most of the airliners being recycled currently are constructed of aluminium – a metal which has multitude of use, recycling values and endless secondary-market opportunities. According to Zemanovic, around 40-50% of the aircraft by weight "is returned back into the aircraft parts market". This is a very encouraging number for aluminium aircraft parts makers. He notes that about 85% of each airliner being decommissioned today is recycled, with about 15% going to landfill and the objective is to increase the recycled portion to 95%.

Latest aircrafts like the Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Bombardier CSeries make extensive use of carbonfibre and when these reach their end-of-life, securing a second market for carbonfibre becomes very challenging.