The Mexican firm QET Tech Aerospace, Ciudad Obregón, Mexico, has added an aircraft end-of-life recycling service to its airframe maintenance, repair and  operations (MRO) service. According to QET, which provides services and products to the international aviation industry, the new service includes extracting parts, disposing of chemicals and unusable material in an environmentally safe way and recovering recyclables.

The Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA), Washington, D.C., estimates that in the next 20 years, 12,000 aircraft will be retired, the company says. “Because our MRO (maintenance, repair and overall) prices are so low, we can separate out the aircraft under a quality system approved by our aviation authority for the handling of aviation parts. These parts continue to be used in the aviation industry, so it is important to have access to the right manuals, tooling, trained people, aviation insurance and [to have the] handling system in place,” says Julio Cesar Alvarez, CEO of QET Tech Aerospace. 

To further reduce the cost of recycling, QET has joined Mexico’s IMMEX program. Under the IMMEX program, all tools and equipment can be imported without tax or duties, which helps the company keep costs down while having access to necessary tools, according to QET.

Once the aviation parts are removed, the rest of the plane is given to a low-cost facility to discard. According to QET, the company supervises this process to ensure the work is done in an environmentally responsible manner.