Finnair recycled 99% from an Airbus: what will happen to the parts?

For the first time in Finland a commercial aircraft has been totally recycled. It has been taken care of. Finnair, in collaboration with one of its partners, Kuusakoski, and the end result went far beyond the highest expectations. The carrier got its hands on a Airbus A319, whose "life cycle" could now be said to be over after a good 21 years in the air. Until recently, the choices would have been two: leave it to rot in one of the company's available spaces or smash it to pieces and throw it away. Fortunately, Finnair has chosen an environmentally sustainable path by recycling this behemoth of the skies.

"This recycling project has allowed us to focus on something positive during this difficult time. We are happy to be able to employ our technicians on maintenance. It was great to find out that we are able to carry out such operations." These are the words of Timo Rossi, project manager of Finnair Maintenance. This was not the first recycling project ever for the carrier, but nothing like this had ever been attempted in the past. Nothing that involved such a large amount of work and especially material to be reused.

Recycled Airbus, what happened to the parts?

Finnair's expectations were lower than what was later actually achieved. The initial assumption was between the aircraft's 90% and 95%. That is how much was assumed to be reusable. The subtracted parts that will have new life, however, represent as much as the 99.2%, with a Waste generation of only 0.8%.

The carrier estimates a removal of as many as 2,000 parts from the aircraft. Some sections will be reused within the fleet, while others will be sold to outside companies. Selling components means getting an immediate economic return, but the biggest gain comes from two other aspects. In fact, Rossi stressed the importance of being able to save money on the purchase of components that are now already in stock thanks to this Airbus. Added to that is the huge savings of not having a huge unused pile of iron and plastic on the runway.

About 15 tons of aluminum was recovered. Something that is very tempting to theautomotive industry, which has long been exploiting this recycled material for the new models it produces. Kuusakoski has also recovered a large amount of energy, equal to the 7.4% of the medium. The 4.2% of the same, however, Will be exploited for research. Specifically, reference is made to the one related to composite materials.

Finnair, the future of recycling

To date, there are no guarantees about a long-term recycling project. This may well turn out to be an ambitious experiment, but one destined to remain unique to the carrier. The same is true of the choice to dismantle Airbus in-house. An environmentally and economically sustainable choice. It may not be repeated in the future, however: "We will make these kinds of decisions from time to time, plane by plane." Choices to be made over the next year, considering how there are as many as 16 Airbus A319s and A320s that are one step away from turning 20 years old.

"At the moment we have no plans to repeat the operation with other aircraft out of service. That is a decision that has not yet been made. However, we know that we have the capabilities to do it again, should we want to. That's what completing this first process was for."