Circular Economy in Aviation Turning Old Into New: A Second Life for Aircraft Parts

Together with various partners such as Toray Advanced Composites, Tarmac Aerosave and Daher, Airbus has demonstrated that it is possible to give aircraft parts made of thermoplastic composite material a second life. A technical breakthrough that has now been recognized.

A consortium consisting of Toray, Tarmac Aerosave, Daher and Airbus has demonstrated how to successfully recycle an aircraft part made of thermoplastic composite material and give it a second life. The partners used a disused A380 engine cowling and turned it into an equivalent part for the A320neo. The development of the remanufactured part illustrated above all that, as in many industries, partnership plays an important role.

Saving Materials, Energy And Costs

Why is remanufacturing an aircraft part considered a breakthrough? Quite simply—composite materials are difficult to recycle and even more difficult to reuse for aerospace applications. The collaboration now shows that a way to reuse certain types of composites on an industrial scale could be possible. This is important because aircraft manufacturers are increasingly using composite materials to save weight and fuel. In addition, reused composites produce less waste and can save new materials. In addition, recycling parts consumes less energy than manufacturing new parts

Hand in Hand: Progress Through Partnership

This new development received one of the JEC Innovation Awards for composites. The award recognizes collaborative projects that demonstrate the potential of composite materials. The award in the Circular Economy and Recycling category went to Toray, supplier and manufacturer of the thermoplastic composite material Toray Cetex, which was used for the original A380 engine cowling, for leading the initiative. "This recognition by the JEC shows how complex challenges, including high-quality recycling, can best be tackled through partnerships," emphasizes Isabell Gradert, Vice President Central Research and Technology at Airbus, who represented the company at the award ceremony in January 2026. She emphasizes: "We are part of a complex aerospace supply chain in a hyper-connected world. When one company finds a solution on its own, it's a great story. When an entire industry does it together, it's transformative because it can lead to something bigger."

The thermoplastic A380 engine cowling has been remanufactured into a new, smaller A320neo engine cowling. The quality and mechanical properties of this reused part are so good that it is indistinguishable from a new component, which could pave the way for scalable applications and the introduction of recycled parts in production and retrofits.

The data collected as part of the initiative is incorporated into Airbus' eco-design strategy, which involves designing new components from the outset in such a way that a maximum amount of material can be recovered and reused at the end of their life cycle.

After all, the A380 contains over 10,000 flight parts made from various types of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. This makes the aircraft an ideal platform for testing and validating processes for the recovery of recycled materials.

Distribution of Tasks

So what did the companies involved do in detail? Toray produced the original thermoplastic composite material used to manufacture the A380 pylon cover. The company was responsible for characterizing the material and providing technical support for stamping and forming. It develops recyclable thermoplastic composites that enable the forming, reuse and remanufacturing of aerospace components while reducing material waste and lifecycle environmental impact.

Tarmac provided the decommissioned A380 spare parts that kick-started the project. The company enabled the initiative by diverting high value assets from waste streams and facilitating the revaluation of assets.

The new A320neo components were therefore manufactured from the recycled material. The aircraft manufacturer and provider of industrial services implemented the industrial process required to reuse the composite material on a large scale.

Airbus was the initiator of the partnership and had already looked into various steps for the reuse of thermoplastics in advance. The OEM integrated the recycled solution into an A320neo aircraft—initially for flight tests. The plan is to introduce it commercially at a later date. (se)