"I Can Even Scrap Airliners Better Than You..."

It's no secret Boeing and Airbus continually wage battle over which manufacturer can sell more planes, and assemble them more efficiently than the other. But what about when the time comes to destroy those planes, at the end of their flying careers? To those familiar with the ongoing Boeing vs. Airbus melee, it should come as no surprise the two manufacturing powerhouses are increasingly competitive in this aspect, as well.

Bartin Recycling Group, a French airplane dismantler with ties to Boeing, claims to be able to recycle almost 90 percent of an old airliner... but Airbus scoffs at that notion.

"We're doubtful this is what Bartin can achieve," Olivier Malavallon, manager of environmental affairs at Airbus, told the Wall Street Journal recently. Malavallon says current technology only allows about 60 percent of an aircraft to be recycled, though Airbus hopes to improve that figure to 95 percent by 2015.

To spearhead that effort, Malavallon leads a team of experts from Airbus and parent company EADS working on Project PAMELA -- for Process for Advanced Management of End-of-Life of Aircraft. Their goal is to find the most efficient, thorough, and environmentally-safe processes to recycle derelict planes; the team's testbed is a retired A300.

Or, more accurately, it was an A300... as little of the actual aircraft remains today. After removing the plane's empennage assembly and vacuuming all traces of fluids from the airframe, engineers used a precise water cannon to cut away the wings. That method is more environmentally-friendly than more commonly-used plasma torches, which require a lot of electricity and also vent noxious fumes. Plus, the team recycles the water.

Next came the removal of the plane's cockpit... and then the engineers turned their attention to the plane's fuselage. Workers tested a variety of methods to reduce their section to its most base elements.

"Unfortunately, the airplane is well-fitted so it won't break," Malavallon, ever the faithful Airbus employee, quipped.

The team monitored the time it took each team to perform their tasks, and specific components such as aluminum skin panels, and structural braces and fasteners, were separated, weighed, and stored in bins for analysis. The team is now pouring over their findings, looking for areas where they could further pare down the process.

"If we do a good job, Boeing will cut and paste what we've done," Malavallon said. "We have no problem with that."

Charles Kofyan, who runs Bartin's aircraft recycling operation in Chateauroux, France -- a few hours north from Tarbes, where Project PAMELA is underway -- says their operation is already close to what Airbus is hoping to achieve.

"We do it and we can show it," he said. Bartin is part of a newly-formed trade group of aircraft recyclers, brought together by Boeing after a retired 737 was found dumped by unknown culprits in Scotland two years ago.

"It became a way to get people's attention across the industry," said Billy Glover, director of environmental performance strategy at Boeing, of that incident. Today, the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) includes 23 companies, and recycles as many as 150 planes a year in Chateauroux and Tucson, AZ -- near what is perhaps the most famous aircraft "boneyard" in the world, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Aside from protecting the environment, and bragging rights (after all, we ARE talking about Airbus and Boeing), aircraft recycling is also an increasingly lucrative enterprise. Components once left rotting in the Mojave, or cut up and compacted along with the rest of an airliner, can bring big money on the recycling and resale markets.

A plane's engines may bring close to $2 million; a cockpit windshield, $10,000.

FMI: Project PAMELA website, AFRA Fact Sheet (.pdf)